One Piece Plus
by v1r1d1an
Summary: After Luffy annhiliates the remaining food supplies on the Going Merry, the Crew is forced to make an emergency stop on a small island in the middle of nowhere, OC Insert/More or less canon retelling
1. Chapter 1: Tonpil

"Goddammit! You shitty rubber food sink!"

Sanji's angry curse echoed across the previously quiet deck of the Going Merry, followed by the sound of a kick, and Luffy flying across the deck to impact loudly against the main mast, causing the ship to shudder, and attracting everyone's attention to the kitchen door, where Sanji stood, radiating fury.

"What's wrong Sanji-kun?" asked Nami sweetly, though she had a pretty good idea of what happened

"I caught our crappy captain here raiding the food store, just as he finished it all off" Sanji growled, has anger coming off of him in cool waves

"We had just enough to last us to Loguetown, now we have nothing except Tabasco sauce!"

"That's not for eating" Usopp interjected "That's ammunition"

While Sanji and Usopp broke into a small argument over the use of Sanji's food supplies as projectiles, Nami walked over to Luffy, knelt down and pinched his cheek, using his rubber quality to stretch it out

"Luuufy" she said, slowly, but threateningly "Are you trying to starve us all to death?"

"But I was hungry" Luffy wailed in reply "Stingy Sanji wouldn't give me any food"

That answer was not satisfactory to Nami, who punched Luffy with her free hand, before releasing his cheek and crossing her arms

"You'll be lucky if I ever feed you again, you bastard" Sanji replied, lighting a cigarette as he did so

"Being without food on the ocean is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a crew" he continued "It's not just that you can starve, but the ocean is a very different environment to being on an island and lacking the proper nutrition can be fatal"

"We'll pick up a way to keep Luffy out of the food store in Loguetown" Nami said "Luckily, there's a small island nearby that we should be able to reach soon, It's supposed to have a small village on it, so we should be able to get some food"

* * *

The day was quite foggy, and visibility was low, so it wasn't until the Merry was quite close to the island Zoro, in the Crows nest, saw the coastline approaching, so called out down

"Oi, guys, you should come up here"

Hearing his call, Luffy, Nami, Sanji and Usopp emerged from below, and headed to the front of the Merry

"What's this island called?" Usopp asked

"Tonpil Island" Nami replied "Although it was difficult to find that out, I couldn't find anything on this island that was more recent than 10 years ago"

"What does that mean Nami-san?" Sanji asked, ashing his cigarette over the edge of the Merry

"I don't know" Nami replied "Even under Arlong's rule the Conomi Islands still managed to get information out… it's how the world knew we were under Arlong's rule"

"I...i….i think I know why…" Usopp stammered out, pointing off the side of the ship, as the fog faded a enough for the Straw Hats to see 5 wrecked ships all around them, all of them bearing one large hole in their hulls

"Oi oi" Zoro said, betraying a little bit of surprise "That's a lot of shipwrecks"

"Could there be a reef around here?" Nami mused "No, it would've been on the map and those ships don't look like they took reef damage"

"Could it be Hawk-Eyes?" Usopp asked, not noticing Zoro stiffen a little at the mention of the name

"No, he would've cut the ships" Zoro replied, shaking his head "This…"

"Looks like a fist" Luffy interrupted, speaking up for the first time "Did something punch these ships open?"

"G…g…giants?" Usopp stammered "Hey guys, I've suddenly developed I-can't-go-on-this-island-disease"

"Then you can stay here on the ship" Sanji replied "We have to find food on this island, otherwise we won't be travelling very far at all"

While the Straw Hats argued over what to do, on the coast of the island a figure in shadow turned and vanished into the forests, a slight smirk on the side of their face as they disappeared

* * *

Eventually, the Straw Hats worked out what to do, Usopp decided to stay on the Merry, terrified of the potential that this island was full of Giants, while Luffy (excited by the potential of giants), Zoro, Sanji and Nami went ashore to find food.

The presence of a well-worn path was a good sign, and the Straw Hats started to follow it, into the forest, clouded by the early morning fog

"I hope the ship will be alright" Nami said worriedly "Maybe Zoro should've stayed with Usopp and the ship"

"It should be fine" Zoro replied "We sailed far back from the wrecks before dropping anchor, and he can always send up a flare if he needs help"

The fog appeared to be clearing up a reasonable amount, and a small smoke plume could be seen in the distance, signaling a village, or at least a fire.

It turned out to be a village, or more accurately, a loose collection of houses, small little wooden shacks, six of them, spread out in a loose circle around a well in the centre

The smoke was rising from one of the buildings, slightly offset from the circle, so Luffy went and knocked on the door

"It's about time" a voice yelled from the inside "The food that we've been storing is getting close to going off"

The door swung open rapidly, and a short portly man with a bushy grey mustache emerged, dressed in rough cloth shirt, jacket and pants, with clogs on his feet

"Wow, thanks for the food Ossan" Luffy replied with a grin "Were you expecting us?"

Rather than laughing, the man flipped his shit

"Quick, get inside, before anyone sees you!" he said urgently

"Why?" Nami asked

"I don't have time to explain, but you could get killed"

Mostly to settle him down, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji headed inside, giving Nami no choice

The man shut the door quietly behind them, and sighed with relief

"Please, make yourself comfortable, I may not have had visitors in over ten years, but I haven't forgotten how to treat them"

The interior of house was very sparse, as expected of a tiny village on a remote island, but it seemed comfortable enough, the most notable feature was the small shrine in the corner of the main room, with a picture of a small family, but none of the people pictured was the man who let them in

"That's a long time" Nami commented "Even for an island this small and remote, why haven't you had visitors in ten years?"

The man's face darkened as he sat down on a chair "I'll explain everything, but first I've been incredibly rude, my name is Jin"

"Luffy"

"Nami"

"Zoro"

"Sanji"

"What brings you to Tonpil Island?" Jin asked

At exactly the same time, Nami and Luffy both replied

"We asked our question first" from Nami

"We need food" Luffy replied

Jin laughed, hearing both the replies

"Yes, you did" he said, only replying to Nami at first

"And I don't think we can help you" he continued, addressing Luffy "We don't produce much, and anything we have surplus goes into tribute"

"Tribute?" Sanji asked "Tribute to what?"

"To the pirates that control this island"

The Straw Hats all glanced at Nami, whose face had darkened, reminded of the situation her own home village had been in until just recently

"Tell us" Nami said "We're a little familiar with this kind of situation"

"It started about ten years ago…"

* * *

*Ten years earlier*

Jin emerged from his house, into a bright sunny day on Tonpil Island, and smiled at the sun

"What a beautiful day" he murmured to himself

"Uncle Jin! Uncle Jin!" a child's voice called loudly

Jin's smile got even wider as he turned around to see a little girl, clothed in a small yellow dress, running towards him

"Hello Moll" Jin greeted cheerily "Are your parents' home?"

Most of the residents of Tonpil Village had moved there out of a wish for isolation, and tended to keep to themselves as much as possibly, but Jin was close with one other family, consisting of the parents Caleb and Thea, and the children Joel, Moll and Layne, in that order of age

"They sent me to come get you" she said, completely out of breath from running "Pirates!"

The blood drained from Jin's face, and the day suddenly didn't feel so bright and sunny anymore

Wordlessly he took off at a sprint, heading in the direction that Moll came from, with her lagging behind, having not had enough time to recover

 _Please be alright, Why would pirates be here?_

Jin and Moll arrived at the shore, to a horrible sight

The pirates had captured Caleb, Thea, Joel and Layne and had them kneeling on the beach, facing Jin and Moll

As Jin stood in horror, he heard a scream as one of the pirates who had been lying in ambush grabbed Moll from next to him, and then another one bashed him on the back of the head and he heard no more

* * *

"What happened to the family they captured?" Nami asked "Are they still with the pirates"

Jin shook his head glumly

"After I woke up I found myself back in the village, the pirate captain had appeared and the entire village was captured"

* * *

*Ten Years ago*

"This village is now under the control of the Berlin pirates" the captain, who Jin assumed was the namesake Berlin, said grinning

He was a tall man, wearing a red captain's coat over his shoulders with two flintlock pistols tucked into the black sash that held up his brown pants, shirtless with skull and crossbones tattooed onto his left pectoral

"You worthless villagers will now pay tribute to us in food, otherwise… we'll exterminate you"

As he said these words he pulled out his pistol and placed it against Thea's head, who was kneeling in front of him

"Is that acceptable?" he said sweetly, looking her dead in the eye, punctuating each syllable with a tap of the pistol

Thea looked up at him, her bruised face showing nothing but contempt and defiance, and she spat at him, the globule landing directly in Berlin's eye.

* * *

Jin abruptly paused, suddenly overcome with tears as the recollection of what happened next became too much

Nami urged him to continue

"He shot her, and when Caleb, Layne and Joel protested, he shot them too" Jin said, summarizing that painful event into a few short words, tears still streaming down his face

"He took Moll with him, back to their hideout… to keep the rest of us working, he took the bodies somewhere on the island, denying us the chance to give them a proper burial… and that was ten years ago, since that day, a thick fog falls over the island every morning, and some of the other villagers have reported seeing a water demon roaming the woods, and we all stay away from the shore"

Luffy's eyes lit up at the words Water Demon

"Ossan, I've heard enough" Luffy said abruptly, standing up "If that guy comes back here, I'll kick his ass"

"Maybe you won't need too" Sanji said "Ossan, do you know there are six shipwrecks off the shore of this island"

Jin's reaction was one of complete surprise

"That explains why the tribute collectors are so late… and why you were able to sail in, but what wrecked those ships?"

"We don't know" Nami explained "We only stopped here to get food to continue on our journey"

"Of course" Jin replied, I wouldn't expect you to get involved in our problems, but if you do help us… you can have all the food that we have stockpiled"

* * *

With some deliberation, the Straw Hats agreed, Nami and Sanji headed back to the ship to inform Usopp, while Luffy excited about the prospect of a water demon, went looking for it, dragging Zoro along with him

"A water demon, how cool" Luffy said excitedly, as he and Zoro wandered the forests of Tonpil Island

"Yeah, I wonder if I can cut it" Zoro replied, not as excited as Luffy, but close to.

The forest of Tonpil Island was largely unexplored, after making a clearing in which to set up the village, the original settlers had largely ignored the space around them, partially out of respect and partially out of principle, resulting in a wild untamed area of nature that housed numerous dangerous creatures and hazards of nature.

In fact, as Jin had described, the last people to enter the area was over ten years ago, and several of the pirates who had entered had been eaten by the wild beasts that had claimed the area as their habitat.

That Luffy and Zoro proceeded to beat up mercilessly as they made their way through the forest.

Eventually, they made their way to a strange clearing, by what looked like a cave entrance, the area being strangely clear of the beasts

"Luffy" Zoro warned

"Yeah" Luffy replied "I know"

Without warning Luffy stretched his arm forward and reached into one of the bushes that lined the side of the clearing, extracting its very stunned occupant, who slammed into the ground, throwing up a small cloud of dust as he landed

The occupant was around Luffy's height, with messy brown hair, a patchy, and short beard, dark green unbuttoned over shirt with rolled up sleeves, black shirt underneath that, with blue jeans and black shoes, as well as a single fingerless glove on his left hand, that appeared to be made of cloth the same color as his jacket, sectioned with armored plates that were a dull grey, over the back of his hand and half of his fingers.

To his credit, the man immediately jumped up and took a defensive stance, while Zoro drew his sword and Luffy took a similar stance

They stood at a standoff, neither willing to make the first move until Luffy got sick of it

"Oi, do you know anything about the water demon that's supposed to be around here? We're looking for it"

The man didn't relax in the slightest

"What's it to you?" he asked, his mistrust clearly evident in his tone

Luffy relaxed his guard and grinned widely

"I want it to join my crew"

This caught the man off guard, so he relaxed a little and chuckled

"And just who might you be?"

"I'm the man who's going to be the pirate king"

This caused the man to do a double take, and with that he relaxed completely, and gave Luffy an odd look

"Why would you want to be king of pirates, Pirates are scum, they attack innocent people and commit crimes across the globe?"

"That's not how pirates are supposed to be, real pirates just want to be free"

By now Zoro had put away his sword and had quite enough of this conversation

"Who are you, are you one of the villagers?"

The man shook his head

"No, I'm…"

He was interrupted by the sound of a loud bang, which attracted all their attention, as a large firework streaked through the sky and made another large bang as it exploded

"That's Usopp's flare isn't it?" Zoro asked

"Yeah" Luffy replied "He must need help"

Without another word they turned and ran towards the shore, and the Going Merry

The man hesitated a little, before decided to run after them, inspired a little bit by Luffy's raw honesty.

* * *

*About an hour earlier*

By this time of day, the morning fog that Jin had described to them had all but cleared, and the Going Merry and the six Shipwrecks near Tonpil Island were completely visible to the large pirate battleship sailing towards the island, to the complete and utter fury of Berlin, aboard the ship.

Berlin closed up his telescope and literally shook with fury as he eyed the Pirate symbol flying above the Merry

* * *

Luffy and Zoro arrived at the shore and were greeted with a horrible sight, Nami, Sanji and Usopp trussed and kneeling in front of a large man wearing a red captain's coat over his shoulders with two flintlock pistols tucked into the black sash that held up his brown pants, shirtless with skull and crossbones tattooed onto his left pectoral.

From the description given by Jin earlier, Luffy and Zoro instantly recognized him as Berlin

Berlin grinned as they came into view, surrounded by his crew, with three of the Straw Hats already captured, he felt invincible

"So you're the rest of the shitty pirates trying to take over my island" he said "I was wondering why six of my ships failed to reappear, it seems like I should've come out this way myself sooner."

Luffy looked Berlin dead in the eye

"Let my crew go" he said calmly

While Luffy and Berlin were engaged in staring down each other, Jin arrived, having come running at the sound of Usopp's flare, and quickly taking stock of the situation in front of him, he knelt down, instantly reminded of that day ten years ago, when he watched Berlin take over his island

Noticing Jin arrive, Berlin smiled, deciding to use the situation as another reminder to Jin and the rest of the villagers as to who held the true power over Tonpil Island

"No, you and your crew are going to surrender your weapons, and get to working in these fields, otherwise…" and he paused as he lifted Nami up and placed his pistol close to the side of her head

"This lovely young woman gets it" he finished

Luffy exchanged a glance with Zoro, and then looked at Nami

"If you shoot her, there is nowhere you will be able to run, nowhere you will be able to hide, where I will not find you, and make you suffer"

Nami nodded, the gag in her mouth preventing her from making any noise beyond a muffled sound of agreement

This was enough to make Berlin hesitate, unused to situations where people weren't afraid of his every word; the threat of his crew, and his pistol had never not been enough to make people comply with his orders before, but as quickly as his hesitation overtook him, he dismissed it, how could those two possibly hurt him at all, they were outnumbered three to one, including the tied up crew.

"Bad luck for you then" he replied, as Luffy watched impassively while he shoved Nami forward onto the ground and pointed his pistol at the back of her head

"Maybe you just need to see how serious I am"

Berlin pulled the trigger.


	2. Chapter 2: My Name is Layne

As Berlin pulled the trigger, Nami's life began flashing before her eyes, from birth, to being adopted by Bellmere, to her joining the Arlong crew, to Luffy's victory over Arlong, and back to the present day, where she was about to get shot in the back of the head on a stupid island in the middle of nowhere

*Ting*

The bullet impacted something metal, and bounced off, shattering the plating on the gauntlet it hit, and Nami opened her eyes, amazed and relieved to be alive

The man from the clearing that Luffy and Zoro met earlier, stood in between Nami and Berlin, his left arm outstretched, placing the back of his hand in between the gun and Nami's head

He looked directly at Luffy with a quizzical expression on his face

"How did you know?" he asked flatly, not a trace of emotional inflection in his tone as he directed his question at Luffy, who proceeded to grin

"I didn't"

"You're a strange one" the man replied

Berlin on the other hand, was staring at the man with incredible shock, to him; the man had seemed to form out of thin air

 _Impossible, how did he get between me and her and… impossible_

The man turned around to face Berlin, and his expression changed from a passive one of neutrality, to a cold rage

Jin felt a glimmer of recognition as the figure turned around

 _It can't be… it is?_

"I've been waiting years for you to come back to this island, you sick son of a bitch" he growled at Berlin

"Who are you?" Berlin asked

"Layne!" Jin bellowed "You're Layne aren't you?! How did you survive, where have you been for the last ten years?"

Everyone who heard Jin's outburst was surprised, one of the dead children from ten years ago was suddenly in front of them, and had just saved Nami from death

"Later, Jin-san" Layne replied, his eyes still firmly fixated on Berlin "I've been waiting for today for over a decade"

Berlin meanwhile, had no idea who Layne was, who Layne was supposed to be, and what he did to Layne ten years ago

"Who are you?" he repeated "Don't make me say it again"

"Ten years ago, you shot me in the back, and left me in a ditch to die with most of my family"

"Impossible, how did you survive?"

"I got lucky"

"I guess I'll just have to finish what I started" he stated "Men, kill them all, this island isn't worth my time anymore"

But no one moved to follow his order

While he'd been gibbering over Layne's apparent return from the underworld, Luffy and Zoro had made short work of the men he had guarding Sanji and Usopp, who arose, rubbing their wrists and ankles.

Layne laughed and turned to free Nami

 _No, it cannot end this way, I the mighty Berlin-sama, ruler of two islands, beaten by six children and a bunch of old fools?_

As Layne untied Nami, Berlin produced a cutlass and swung, intending to cleave Layne in two, while Zoro, Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Jin shouted a warning

Layne turned slightly, taking notice of the blade heading towards his face, but not even attempting to move.

The blade did pass through Layne, but Berlin dropped it in shock as he saw what he cut through

The section where the blade passed through had turned into water, and was beginning to coalesce into Layne's head and face as everyone except Nami looked on in shock.

Layne finished untying Nami and turned around, to see Berlin had fallen backwards and was scuttling backwards as Layne moved towards him

"W..what are you? He stuttered, losing all sense of decorum and arrogance that defined him

"I found the Mizu Mizu no Mi in the wilderness of this island; I ate it and became a water man"

"So he's the water demon the Ossan mentioned" Sanji deduced, as his lit a cigarette

"I spent ten years in the wildsof this island" Layne continued "Ten years alone, ten years afraid, and today after all this time, I find out that what I've been afraid of is nothing but a pathetic shell"

As Layne spoke, he kept moving closer and closer to Berlin, and he knelt down, getting close

"Now, I have only one question, and if I don't like the answer, I'll kill you…Where's Moll, where's my sister?"

"I don't know, not even two weeks after we took her, we were attacked by a single pirate, with red hair, and he took her away" Berlin blubbered, terrified by the cold fury present in Layne's eyes

Layne didn't appear to be happy with that answer, and punched Berlin square in the face, knocking him over

"Bullshit!" he shouted "How the fuck am I supposed to find her now?"

Luffy slammed the base of his fist into his open palm

"I knew I recognized that name from somewhere, I know where your sister is"

Everyone turned to look at Luffy incredulously, Layne most of all

"Don't fuck with me" he said calmly "Today is not the day for it"

"A long time ago, about nine or ten years, I met a girl around my age named Moll" Luffy explained "It was in my home village, she was travelling with Shanks and his nakama, and it made me jealous, I wanted to join Shanks' crew more than anything, and he had a little girl with him, but wouldn't take me with him"

"How do you know that was Layne's sister?" Nami asked

"She told me about her family but she never mentioned that you were dead… when I heard Jin-ossan say your name I realized who you were almost at once, She really looked up to you Layne, and she told me all about your fight with the Desboar"

Layne sank down to the ground, tears beginning to stream down his face

"Thank goodness" he sniffled "She's still alive"

Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Nami watched him cry for a little bit, before they noticed Berlin struggling to his feet behind him

By now all of Berlin's crew had fled, carrying their unconscious and wounded, but leaving Berlin lying flat in the town center

Without warning he sprang up, and produced a cutlass, charging at Layne

The Straw Hats all shouted warnings to Layne, whose tears ceased streaming down his face as the cutlass impacted his back

Layne's form seemed to explode, scattering water everywhere, before moving back and coalescing back into shap, knelt down in front of Berlin

"You are done here" he threatened

"Gomu Gomu No, Bazooka!"

Luffy's arms collided with Berlin and sent him flying over the tree line, where a small splash could be heard in the distance

As his arms retracted with a loud rubbery snap, he walked over to Layne and extended a hand towards Layne's kneeling figure

"We're going to see Shanks, no matter how long it takes"

"If you see Moll" Layne said, accepting the hand and standing up, drying his tears with his other sleeve as he did so

"Please tell her I'm alive"

"Tell her yourself" Luffy replied "Come with us, to the Grand Line!"

Layne was caught off-guard by the sudden offer and glanced around at Zoro, Nami, Usopp and Sanji for help

"But… I don't know who you all are"

This did not faze Luffy in the slightest

"I'm Luffy, the man who's going to become the Pirate King"

Layne stared at Luffy skeptically for a couple of seconds, before matching Luffy's grin

"You know what… I believe it, Hell yeah I'll come with you"

* * *

As promised, Jin delivered that huge pile of food to the beach, and after a few trips, it was all loaded onto the Merry, and they set sail, only stopping for Layne to say goodbye to Jin briefly, otherwise having nothing left for him on Tonpil Island

* * *

The next day was calm and sunny, and as Layne relaxed on the deck of the Going Merry he felt odd and out of place.

The wilds of Tonpil Island were dangerous, and relaxing often meant one was about to be in danger, but that was all behind him

Seagulls lazily crowed as they circled overhead and Layne's reverie was interrupted by the sounds of Nami arguing with the newspaper delivery bird

"They raised the price again?" she complained as she inserted a coin into the bird's purse "Don't you think that's a little bit too high? Next time the price is raised, I won't buy it"

As the bird flew away, Nami glared at it until it was out of her sight, and Usopp chimed in

"What are you getting so worked up for, it's only a newspaper"

Usopp was doing something strange with a small bottle of tobasco, Layne noticed, curious as to what he needed tobasco for

"But if you get it all the time, it adds up" Nami replied

"Well, it's not like you need to save up to buy your village from Arlong anymore, so why worry about it?"

"Idiot" Nami snapped "It's because I don't have to worry about my village anymore that I have to worry about it, now the money is all for me" she said as she sat down in the lounging chair on the aft of the ship

"Well keep it down" Usopp said, diverting the subject "I'm in the middle of formulating my tobasco star, If I shoot it into my enemies' eyes then…"

Usopp was interrupted by Luffy being tossed into him, and the tobasco from the bottle went right into his eyes

Usopp screamed as the tobasco hit his face

Layne winced in sympathy and went to help Usopp wash out his eyes

"What the hell Sanji?!" Luffy yelled "It's just one tangerine"

"No way, this is Nami-san's tangerine grove; I won't let you lay one of your filthy mitts on it… Nami-san, the guard of Love is on duty"

Layne shook his head as he gently rinsed Usopp's eyes out by dripping water from his hand, Having only known the Straw Hats for three days, he still wasn't used to their antics, or personalities… but he liked all of them, they weren't at all what he expected pirates to be like

"That fool Sanji" Zoro muttered from the front of the ship "She uses him like a tool"

Luffy sat up and smiled "Oh well, I'm in a good mood anyway, so I'll let it go"

Everyone resumed their silence for a good minute or two, Layne having finished cleaning the tobasco from Usopp's eyes and Nami silently flipping through the pages of the newspaper

Nami turned to the last page and a piece of paper fluttered out and landed on the ground in the center of Luffy, Usopp, Layne and Nami

Luffy cackled as he held up the bounty poster for the rest of the Straw hats to see

"Check it out" he said gleefully "We're wanted!"

"30,000,000 beli" Layne read out, scanning the poster "That's so much, what are you wanted for?"

"That's right" Nami cut in "Layne-kun doesn't know about Arlong"

Nami launched into a brief run-down of their adventures so far while Usopp made entirely too much of the fact that the back of his head was on the wanted poster

"Doesn't this mean we won't be able to just hang around East Blue anymore?" Layne questioned

"Yeah" Nami replied "The Marines will be a lot more serious about catching us now

* * *

Nami gathered all the Straw Hats together at the front of the ship, sounding serious, and as soon as Layne arrived and sat down she unrolled a map in the center of the loose circle they were gathered in

"We're getting very close to the Grand Line" she began, not taking her eyes off the map as she pointed to the center of it

"The only way to get there, is to go through Reverse Mountain"

"That's a pain in the ass" Zoro commented "Can't we just go straight there from the sea?"

"Nope" Sanji said abruptly "The old geezer said that was the only way in, any other way is too dangerous"

"Why are the other ways dangerous?" Usopp wanted to know

"I don't know any more than that" Sanji replied, lighting another cigarette and taking a puff "The old geezer just said that Reverse Mountain is the safest route

"Sea Kings" Layne spoke up, attracting everyone's attention as he pointed to the map "My parents told me once that the sides of the Grand Line was Sea King territory"

"Anyway" Nami said, forestalling anymore interruptions, as she pointed to a small island nearby the East Blue Reverse Mountain entrance "That's our destination, the famous Island of Loguetown"

"Is it famous for its meat?" Luffy asked

"It's also called the Town of the Beginning and the End" Zoro said

"It's the place where the Pirate King, Gold Roger was born… and where he died"

This drew everyone's attention to Nami

"The place where the Pirate king died…" Luffy said, trailing off as he considered it

"Excited?" Layne asked the question on everyone's mind, watching Luffy be uncharacteristically deep in thought

"Yeah" Luffy replied "I want to see it, the man who owned One Piece, the man who had everything in the world… the place where he died"

"We should be there tomorrow" Nami stated "And it'll be good timing too, the food we got from Tonpil has almost run out"

* * *

That night, it was Layne's turn for the night watch shift, which didn't bother him overly much, he didn't tend to sleep that much anyway, and it was strangely comforting to be alone after spending the last three days of his life constantly interacting with people, an experience that his time on Tonpil island hadn't prepared him for

He heard footsteps and looked down from the Crow's nest to see Nami beckoning him to come down, holding two cups of something in her other hand

Layne flipped over the side and quickly descended down the rigging, for Layne, there was a quicker and easier way down but he didn't like using his devil fruit abilities unnecessarily

"You should be asleep, it's pretty late" he said, almost accusingly as Nami smiled and extended a cup of tea to him

"Those idiots are arguing in their sleep, how am I supposed to sleep through that?"

Layne indicated his concession with a tilt of his head and took a sip of the tea she handed him

"I wanted to talk to you anyway, I thought I should know more about our newest crew member anyway" she continued "You're a mystery… and I never really properly thanked you for saving my life back on Tonpil anyway"

Layne smiled and raised a hand and waved it slightly

"Don't worry about it, it's nothing…honestly I think you've collectively paid me back anyway… finding out that Moll might still be alive is the best thing I've heard in ten years… and you're taking me with you? Don't worry… you've all already more than earned my loyalty"

Nami laughed "It's not your loyalty we want; though that is useful…you're nakama now"

"Oh Yeah?" Layne replied "You told me about this… Morgan… Buggy… Kuro… Don Krieg… Arlong… and in a way I guess Berlin? You guys have taken down some pretty dangerous sounding people… all for nakama?"

Nami smiled and nodded "I thought I was going to die several times already… but each time you've all stepped up and saved me… I can't imagine myself being anywhere else in the world but on this ship"

Layne finished his tea and stood up, moving back over to the rigging

"Yeah… me neither"

* * *

The next day, after reaching Loguetown, the Straw Hats docked and disembarked, the six of them standing on the paved dock looking up at an arch with Loguetown written on it

"Whoa, what a huge town" Luffy said in amazement, craning his head around in an effort to take in as much as he could

"Lots of pirates stock up here before heading to the Grand line, so you can get pretty much anything here" Nami explained

"Alright then… I'm going to need some cool stuff for our upcoming adventure" Usopp declared, marching off down what looked like the main street

"I'll take care of the food" Sanji added, before walking off after Usopp

"There's something I want to buy too" Zoro said contemplatively

"And how would you be doing that Zoro-kun?" Nami asked slyly "You're totally broke aren't you?"

Layne hesitated as he looked around, there were so many people around, it was totally overwhelming, and he felt the urge to run, to hide somewhere where there was less people, but he buried it, being paralyzed with fear was a thing of the past

Sensing his hesitation, Nami turned to him and asked sweetly "Is there anything you need Layne?"

Layne held his ruined gauntlet up for her to see

"I need a new glove… I guess…probably some new clothes" he said slowly, pointing to where Berlin's pistol had ruined the plating

"I'm going to check out the execution platform!" Luffy declared loudly, before sprinting off, leaving Layne, Zoro and Nami alone at the dock

They looked at each other and decided to follow the rest of their crew

* * *

Layne walked with Nami and Zoro for a bit, before they saw what they were looking for and split off from him

The moderate sounds of hammer striking steel perked his ear up and he noticed a blacksmith not far away, so he quickened his pace and walked through the front door, thankful to get away from the large crowds

The smith was a large, muscular man, wearing a black apron over his bare chest and brown pants, his muscles rippling with every strike of the hammer

The smith had his exposed back turned as Layne entered, but the bell at the door rang as he was midstrike, so he turned around and his jaw dropped as he caught sight of Layne

"Kent?" he asked incredulously "Kent, is that you?"

Layne shook his head profusely, surprised at the blacksmith's sudden outburst,

"Kent was my grandfather's name" Layne offered lamely "My mother often told me we looked similar… my name is Layne"

The blacksmith abandoned what he was doing and brought the goggles around his neck to his face

"You're the spitting image of him" the blacksmith declared "But he'd have a pile of grey hairs about now, how is that old bastard, I haven't seen him in years"

"I've never met him" Layne replied "I've lived on Tonpil Island my whole life"

"That's a shame" the blacksmith said "He's a great man"

The blacksmith sat down and beckoned Layne to sit on the bench across from him

"So what brings you to Loguetown?"

Layne looked the blacksmith dead in the eye and grinned

"I'm headed to the Grand Line… a lot of things have happened and well… I don't really want to go into it, but my friends and are going there after getting some supplies"

"The Grand line huh? That's a big game… what can I do to help… no charge for Kent's family"

Layne took off his ruined gauntlet, exposing his left hand for the first time since meeting the Straw Hats and revealed the kanji for water tattooed on the back of his left hand

"It got ruined…" Layne started explaining before trailing off as he noticed the intense scrutiny that the blacksmith was giving the tattoo

"Where did you get that tattoo?" the blacksmith asked

"Mum did it… before she died, I got water… my brother Joel got earth… and my sister Moll got Air" Layne explained "Does it mean something bad here in Loguetown?"

The blacksmith shook his head "No it's just… I have something for you, hang on"

Abruptly the blacksmith got up and strode into the backroom, and Layne could hear the sounds of hurried rummaging

Eventually, the blacksmith came back, bearing a small box, which he gave to Layne

Layne cocked an eyebrow as he looked at it, and then at the blacksmith

"Five years ago, your grandfather told me to give this to a kid with a water kanji tattooed on his left hand"

"…But five years ago… I was presumed dead" Layne said quizzically "How could Jii-san have known?"

The blacksmith seemed to not notice

"This was Kent's… open it" he urged

Layne didn't need to be told twice and he flipped the box open in a smooth movement and extracted its contents

A green left handed fingerless gauntlet with a strange metal plating over the back of the hand and fingers

Wordlessly, Layne slipped it on, it was a perfect fit, but that didn't surprise Layne in the slightest

"The metal is still, combined with a weave of something your grandfather brought back from the Grand Line… it was the hardest thing I've ever worked with… but this gauntlet is my best work" the smith explained

"Is this really ok?" Layne asked "If it's your best work…"

"Yeah, take it" The blacksmith said "It was nice meeting you Layne… if you ever see Kent tell him that I said hi.


	3. Chapter 3: Storm of Destiny

Layne decided to head back to the Merry after exiting the blacksmith, reasoning that even if no one else was back yet he could have some time alone on the ship before everyone else got back

In addition to his glove, he'd also managed to get some decently worked scrap metal which Usopp could use for ship repairs if it became necessary

Along the way, he ran into Usopp, Sanji and Nami, who were all laden down with large bags of shopping and one absolutely huge fish

They were discussing the large clouds and strange wind that Layne had felt when he walked up quietly to them, not interrupting their conversation but just falling into step with them

"Hey guys!" Zoro called, walking up to them from the opposite direction as Layne, who noticed that he now had three swords at his side, instead of just one he'd been carrying all along

"Have you seen Luffy? We got separated… and I've got a bad feeling"

"PIRATES!" Someone shouted as a large group of people ran past the Straw hats "Buggy the Clown is going to execute Straw Hat Luffy"

The five of them stopped and turned towards the path leading towards the center of town, absorbing the information that had just ran past them

"Buggy the Clown?!" Zoro grimaced as he felt the news

"Is going to execute…" Usopp started

"Straw Hat Luffy?!" Layne finished

"That idiot" Nami growled, shaking her head in dismay, her hopes of a clean in and out from Loguetown dashed by a classic Luffying.

"Let's go!" Zoro shouted, running towards the direction that the trouble seemed to be coming from

Layne was immediately after him, falling in step a little behind him and behind Layne was Sanji, who tossed the fish for Usopp to hold, as Usopp and Nami ran in the opposite direction, towards the Going Merry

* * *

Layne, Zoro and Sanji arrived at the execution clearing just as Luffy's overwhelming declaration of becoming the pirate king just finished echoing over the crowd

Zoro had donned his bandana in the run over and the three of them stood in a line in the entryway and watched as the man with clown make up, who Layne took to be Buggy gloated over Luffy, who was immobilized in the stocks on the top of the platform

Buggy raised the sword over Luffy's neck and as one; Layne, Zoro and Sanji raised their voices and shouted in unison

"THIS EXECUTION… IS CANCELLED!"

"Zoro! Layne! Sanji!" Luffy shouted excitedly as he heard them shout

Zoro gripped one of his swords closer as he smiled back at Luffy

"You really know how to start a ruckus, but isn't this taking the joke a little too far, Luffy?" Zoro asked

"If it's time for the sideshow I guess I'll debut as well" Sanji added "It looks like we'll have to get past these shitty pirates

"These guys are nothing" Layne assessed "We'll be on our way in five minutes… at the most"

The crowd cleared as they realized that the three behind them were pirates, leaving only Buggy's crew in between Zoro, Layne, Sanji and the Execution Platform

"So you're finally here Zoro" Buggy said, grinning as he raised the sword over his head "Pity you're just a little too late"

In response to Buggy's action Layne, Sanji and Zoro began running towards the platform

"Destroy the platform!" Layne shouted

Sanji and Zoro made their assent clear as they rushed forwards

"If you would, my dears" A woman from just in front of the platform shouted, obviously important in Buggy's crew Layne judged

"And so we shall, Alvida nee-san" some of Buggy's pirates replied, as they rushed to intercept Layne, Zoro and Sanji

"Zoro, Sanji, move!" Layne shouted as water began to form around him

Noticing this, and assuming Layne was about to use his fruit, Zoro and Sanji wisely moved out of the way as Layne picked up speed and ran past them, the water form and a veil, and then a ball

"Mizu Mizu No Surge!" Layne shouted

Layne charged forwards, the ball of water that he became impacting the front of Buggy's crew's formation, and blasting it apart, before dispersing and reforming into Layne, with significantly less of Buggy's crew in their way

"Amazing!" Luffy said, having never actually witnessed Layne use his fruit offensively before

Layne resumed running, but got tangled in with Buggy's crew, who were doing their absolute hardest to keep the Straw Hats away from Luffy

Buggy noticed the progress the Straw Hats were making towards him and decided to stop messing around, so he swung the sword down, cackling madly as he did so

"This is for humiliating me Straw Hat, Die Flashily!"

Luffy shouted as he realized what was happening

"Zoro, Sanji, Layne, Usopp, Nami…"

As Layne, Zoro and Sanji looked up at the execution platform they suddenly heard Luffy's words as clearly as if he was standing next to them

"Sorry, I'm…dead"

Luffy's grin was wide, but this was nothing to be smiling about

Layne was aghast

 _What the hell is he smiling about?_

"Don't say that you bastard!" Sanji shouted as the sword came down

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as everyone in the square turned to watch the execution, and out of nowhere, a bolt of lightning shot down from the sky, impacting the platform directly, and setting it ablaze with blue fire

The impact proved to be too much for the aging platform, which creaked and clattered profusely as it collapsed, sending up a pile of dust, which settled quickly as the rain started to fall quite heavily

Meanwhile, everyone present could only look on in shock as Luffy's Straw Hat fluttered down from the sky, landing in front of Luffy, mysteriously unharmed and laughing his ass off

"Hey, I'm alive" He said, sounding surprised "I thought I was a goner"

Luffy walked up to Layne, Sanji and Zoro, who were the quickest to recover out of everyone in the square, though still shocked

"Hey… do you believe in God?" Sanji asked Zoro and Layne, lighting up a cigarette and taking a long drag from it as he contemplated the miraculous event that had just occurred to them

Layne shook his head, unable to form words

Zoro sheathed his swords

"This isn't the time to ask…we're blowing this town, the danger doesn't seem to be over yet"

Almost prophetically, the Marines piled into the square surrounding the Pirates

Within seconds the square was engulfed in the sounds and sights of battle as the marines clashed with Buggy's pirates

"Why them?!" Sanji growled "Where were they ten minutes ago"

"Awesome!" Luffy on the other hand, sounded excited "What a huge fight!, Cool!"

"Oi Luffy, quit standing around, we're leaving" Zoro snapped

"If we don't make it to the ship in time we won't be able to make it to the Grand line" Layne muttered

"Really?! We'd better go then" Luffy exclaimed

The Straw Hats ran, breaking through the Marine blockade easily in a flurry of kicks, punches, sword slashes and pressurized water blasts and ran full tilt for the docks

* * *

"Which way is the dock?" Layne wanted to know "I can't remember, and this storm isn't helping"

"It's raining so hard, I can't tell which direction" Luffy replied

Layne and Zoro noticed the lone figure in front of them before Sanji and Luffy did, though Sanji was the first to identify her

"Whoa, who's that beautiful Lady?"

She was standing in the rain with her eyes to the floor, her black hair soaked and hanging over her eyes, wearing a yellow shirt with pink flowers, and a blue jacket, holding a sword at her side

Zoro seemed to recognize her, though the other three were still in the dark

When they were in earshot of her, she started muttering, and they stopped to listen

"So you're Roronoa Zoro, a pirate…you lied to me"

She raised her head and looked directly at them as she yelled the last half of her statement

"Zoro! What the hell did you do to this beautiful lady" Sanji asked, outraged that Zoro might have done something to a woman of any description

Zoro ignored him, and pushed past Luffy and Layne to stand between them and her

"You never asked my name, I didn't lie at all" he said, his tone betraying his confusion

"A scoundrel like you wielding such a magnificent katana… unforgiveable, your meitou, the Wadou Ichimonji shall be confiscated!"

Zoro grinned and loosened Wadou Ichimonji from its sheathe

"Just try it" he challenged

Almost instantaneously she unsheathed her sword and charged forwards, attempting an overhead slash, which Zoro blocked with ease

They stood, locked sword to sword for two seconds before she weakened for just a second, and Zoro pressed his advantage, attempting an overhead slash which she blocked, locking them in a strength contest yet again

Sanji had had enough by now however

"You bastard Zoro! How dare you attack a woman!"

"Stay out of this, please!" she shouted back at Sanji, who was taken aback "This is a match between Roronoa and myself, leave us alone"

"You heard her" Zoro added "Go on ahead"

"Alright, let's go" Luffy accepted as he ran on ahead, Layne just behind him

"Oi Zoro, if you hurt her, you're a dead man" Sanji shouted as he ran after Luffy and Layne

The sound of clattering footsteps behind Zoro indicated the marines had caught up with them

"Sergeant Major Tashigi!" one of them shouted, but none of them moved to interrupt the fight

As they were locked in the stalemate, Zoro removed one hand from Wadou and grabbed one of his other swords from its sheathe, swinging into Tashigi's guard and pushing her back

The next five seconds was Zoro constantly on the attack, pushing Tashigi further and further back until she hit her back against the wall of a brown brick building and stumbled for just one second

That second was all Zoro needed, with a mighty swing he knocked her sword out of her hands and stabbed his other one into the wall next to her face.

"I can never lose this katana, no matter what"

* * *

"There's the end of the street!" Luffy shouted in excitement as he, Layne and Sanji rounded a corner

"The harbor is just over there!"

Layne noticed a figure in their way and sighed mentally, wondering which one of them had pissed someone off this time

"Hey who's that up ahead" Sanji asked, as he noticed too

The figure was dressed in an open marine coat, blue jeans and brown boots, his coat was modified and had what looked like two dozen cigars hanging off it, two of which were lit and currently being smoked

"So you finally made it, Straw Hat Luffy" he said, talking effortlessly despite the two large cigars in his mouth, a talent Layne surmised, that must have taken a while to acquire

Layne, Sanji and Luffy stopped about 10 meters away from him as he continued to speak, ignoring Sanji and Layne and only speaking directly to Luffy

"I told you, if you can't beat me, you can't go to the Grand Line"

Luffy looked puzzled for a second, before a look of clarity overtook his face

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that"

"You enjoy playing dumb don't you?"

"Oi Luffy" Sanji interrupted before being interrupted himself

"Sanji, Layne… go on ahead, I'll be right behind you"

"I wouldn't bet on that" the marine replied "This is the end for you"

Sanji and Layne glared at the marine, preparing to fight before Luffy shouted at them in unison with a thunderclap

"Go!"

* * *

While all this had been going on, Nami and Usopp had managed to board the Merry, but were currently being fired upon by marine gunners and cannon emplacements

A particularly close shot sent water all over the deck and shook the entire ship, knocking Nami over

She looked up at the emplacements and made a snap decision

"They're going to sink the Merry if we don't set sail right now!"

"But Luffy and the others aren't back yet" Usopp argued

"It won't matter if there isn't a ship to get back too" Nami snapped back

Usopp couldn't argue with that logic and went to unfurl the sails as Nami raised the anchor

"We'll pick them up somehow" Nami shouted at Usopp, in an attempt to reassure him, thought truthfully she wasn't sure herself

"NAMI-SAAAAAAN!"

Sanji's voice echoed out across the harbor as he and Layne appeared, running parallel to the path the Merry was sailing next to the island, pursued by a huge group of marines

"Where are Luffy and Zoro!?" Nami shouted back at them

"They'll be fine!" Layne shouted back

Another large group of marines suddenly appeared and cut them off from the front

"Look out!" Usopp warned

Layne parried a sword slash with his glove, sending the marine off balance, a perfect target for a kick to the face from Sanji, but they were surrounded, and the marines kept piling in, no matter how many that Layne and Sanji knocked out

"Shit" Sanji muttered as he kicked one marine into four others, and still more came "They just keep coming"

"Persistent." Layne replied through gritted teeth as he blasted one backwards with a jet of water from his right hand "Bastards aren't they"

"I'll cover them" Usopp said to Nami "Bring the ship in!"

"I can't!" Nami replied worriedly "The tide current is already too strong, we can't get back to shore"

"Shit!" Usopp shouted, taking a running jump from the merry and landing in the water "I'll do it"

Usopp surfaced holding his slingshot and began firing pellet after pellet, and marines on the shore started dropping, even with Layne and Sanji clearing multiple marines with each attack the thinning seemed irrelevant as more marines kept appearing from nowhere.

* * *

The rain was now falling so heavily over Luffy that rivulets were streaming from his hat as he stared off against Smoker, a slight grin on his face that was illuminated with every lightning strike

"I'll defeat you, and enter the Grand Line" Luffy declared "Because I'm the man who will become the Pirate King"

"You won't be spouting that rubbish for much longer" Smoker replied

Abruptly his gloved fists turned grey and then cloudy, and he held his arms up and surrounded Luffy with smoke

Within seconds, the fight was over and Smoker had Luffy pinned to the ground and moved to withdraw the jitte he had slung over his back

"Looks like my run of bad luck is over"

"Well I wouldn't say that exactly" a new voice stated, as he placed as hand on Smoker's jitte, preventing him from drawing it

Smoker looked up, seeing a man wrapped in a green cloak, with a red grid tattooed on the side of his face

The lightning flashed and Smoker saw his eyes, shocked as he realized just who it was

"Huh? You're…"

"What's going on, who is it?" Luffy struggled, but couldn't see because Smoker was still holding his face pressed to the ground

"The government wants your head" Smoker informed the stranger, ignoring Luffy entirely

"The world is waiting for our answer" The mysterious man replied cryptically

* * *

Strangely, the rain stopped falling, and an incredible gust began ripping through the whole city, blowing away everyone who wasn't inside, including Luffy, Smoker, Layne, Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and a whole pile of marines

Nami clung to the Merry's rails for dear life, but just as quickly as it had started, the gust was gone, but everything was mucked up

Zoro, Sanji, Luffy and Usopp emerged from the wreckage of some sheds near the harbor, Zoro grasping Layne's ankle and pulling him from where he was buried under some rubble

"Thanks Zoro" Layne muttered, brushing some dust off his shoulder as he stood up

"LUFFY!" Nami shouted from the Merry, which was nearly out of earshot range, as she noticed them at the harbor

"LUFFY!" she repeated, more urgently

"Nami!" Luffy noticed, hearing his name

"Shit, we have to hurry, or she'll drift out too far" Sanji informed them

Sanji, Layne, Zoro and Usopp started running in the direction of the ship, while Luffy shouted something incomprehensible and ran in the other direction

Everyone else stopped to see what he was doing, but didn't like what they saw

"Gomu Gomu no Rocket!"

Luffy stretched and caught onto an exposed piece of house framework, using it to rubber band back

The rest of the crew tried in vain to run, but Luffy caught them on the snap back and the five of them flew through the air, impacting the Merry's sail before sliding down and collapsing on the floor in one big heap

"Guys!" Nami said, relieved that they had all made it

* * *

Back in Loguetown, the mysterious man who had saved Luffy watched the gust silently watched the Straw Hats depart, a slight smile appearing on his face as someone approached behind him

"I must thank you my dear… your timing was impeccable, though I did have the situation well in hand"

"So you were here, Dragon" a female voice replied from behind him "I hope I didn't interrupt anything, I'll be leaving now anyway, I wasn't planning on staying for so long but i'm glad that i did, because I got to see a couple of interesting things"

"Of course, give Red Hair my regards"

* * *

The waves were huge, but the Merry was finally out of Loguetown's sight, and there was absolutely no sight of pursuit, so the atmosphere on the Merry was relaxed, with all the Straw Hats on deck, looking forwards, exciting for the prospect of entering the Grand Line

A beam of light washed over the ship and pointed forwards

"Check out that light" Nami exclaimed "That's the way to the Grand Line!"

"The Grand Line is over there?" Luffy asked

Nami nodded

"Are we really going to go in a storm like this?" Usopp asked

Zoro, Sanji, Layne, and Luffy all gave various noises and gestures of assent, and it was agreed upon

Sanji pulled over the empty Barrel he'd been sitting on and placed it in between all of them

"Alright, let's have a little ceremony, to celebrate the importance of our voyage"

Sanji placed his left heel up on the barrel and thought back to Zeff, and the Blue finned Elephant Tuna currently residing in the ships cooler

"To find All Blue" he stated

Luffy was next, the impetus for all of them being there currently

"To become the Pirate King!"

Zoro, grinning placed his foot up next, thinking about Kuina, Tashigi, Mihawk and his brand new swords

"To become the world's greatest swordsman"

Layne followed suit, pushing his soaked hair out of his eyes as he grinned, happy to just be alive for the first time in recent memory

"I'll find my sister, Moll!"

Nami placed her hell in between Layne's and Luffy's, a strange feeling of pride in herself and her companions overtaking her

"To make a map of the world"

Finally, Usopp after some slight hesitation placed his booted foot up, completing the circle, nervous, but moving forwards

"To become a brave warrior of the sea!"

They stared at the barrel in silence for a moment, smiling and considering the future, before Luffy broke the silence

"Let's go to the Grand Line!" he shouted

"Yeah!" the rest of them said in unison, and as one they all raised their feet, and brought them down on the barrel, smashing it.


	4. Chapter 4: The Grand Line

It was still storming, so the Straw Hats had retreated inside the Merry in an attempt to dry off with the exception of Layne, who looked just as dry as he would if the sun was shining normally, as Nami explained the next part of the journey, over the map laid out on the table in front of them

"I didn't believe it at first, but the entrance to the Grand Line is actually the mountain itself… it's got a current that flows up that we have to get on to"

"So it's a Mystery Mountain" Luffy said, slamming his hands together

"Hold on" Zoro said incredulously "I've never heard about anything like that, Ships climbing mountains?"

Privately Layne thought Zoro's skepticism was misplaced… he was sharing a boat with a rubber man and a water man… wouldn't you just accept whatever was placed in front of you after that?

"I've heard something" Sanji spoke up before Layne could say anything "I heard that about half the rookies that try to enter the Grand Line die in the attempt, so it's not going to be easy to get in"

"Now, we're on the current" Nami said, "So Sanji-kun, Luffy, go furl the sails, we won't need them for a while"

Sanji and Luffy exited and Layne decided to follow, the rain by its very nature not a bother to a water man

* * *

Outside as Luffy finished furling the sail, he looked up and shouted

"I see the Mystery Mountain"

The rest of the crew came running to the edges of the boat, trying to see what Luffy could see

The mountain was massive; looking like its namesake, a looming red line that loomed on the horizon seemingly impassable to everything except the sky, with the peak stuck in the storm clouds

Without warning the ship was suddenly violently tossed sideways, startling everyone

"We're getting sucked in!" Luffy warned, as he bounced from the main mast by his rubber arms "Grab the helm!"

"Leave it to us!" Sanji and Usopp shouted as they moved to enact his order

The red line loomed closer and closer, but no entrance could be discerned, which worried Layne

"Nami… if we keep going… we'll run into the cliff" he stated worriedly "Luffy and I can't swim… and the rest of you will never survive this current if the ship runs aground"

Nami squinted forwards through the rain and the mist, and saw a crack in the mountain, the exact path that the Going Merry needed to take

"Hold our path steady!" she shouted "We're on a direct course!"

Zoro produced binoculars and looked in the direction she had, and his jaw dropped

"Unreal…the water really is climbing up the mountain!"

As they got closer, there was a set of stone pillars marking the entrance to the canal

"We have to go there" Nami explained "Make sure we go straight between the water pillars, otherwise the ship will be smashed to pieces"

But it was not to be that easy

Luffy was the first one to notice that they were of the course they needed to be on

"We're drifting" he shouted, "We need to go more to the right!"

Sanji and Usopp struggled with the Helm that seemed locked into place because the current was so strong, so much so that it snapped right off, causing the Straw Hats to lose all control over the Merry's course

Just as the ship was about to hit one of the pillars

Quick as a flash, Luffy leapt out

"Gomu Gomu No Balloon!" He shouted as he inflated and interspersed himself in between the ship and the pillar

He did it, bouncing the ship off, but too far in the other direction

"Mizu Mizu No Torrent!"

Layne's arms melted into their aqueous form, before blasting out at high pressure at the other pillar, slowing the ship but not correcting their course enough

Layne grunted with effort and the pressure increased, narrowly pushing the Merry between the two pillars without incident

The Straw Hats celebrated their impending entrance to the Grand Line, a feat that would have been impossible if they hadn't picked up exactly the right crew members

They climbed the mountain at a steady pace, each of them thinking and reminiscing about the circumstances that brought them here, and the idiot currently attached to the figurehead screaming his lungs off in excitement, and making their own silent promises to their selves.

 _Pirate King, Greatest Swordsman, Map of the World, Brave Warrior, All Blue, Moll_

At the peak of the mountain, above the clouds the current was fast enough to send them flying into the air, and then down onto the downward flowing current on the other side, heading directly for the Grand Line

"So this is the Grand Line" Luffy said excitedly, as he looked out to the horizon "The greatest sea in the world"

"BUOHHHH"

The faint sound of what sounded like a Fog Horn faintly passed over the ship, causing everyone to look around in confusion

"Did you guys hear something?" Layne asked, frowning as he

"It's probably just the wind" Nami explained "The terrain here is odd, nothing like anything we've ever encountered before"

Layne nodded, not entirely convinced, but willing to defer to Nami's expertise

The sound repeated itself, louder this time

"What's that…" Usopp wondered, bringing down one of this goggle's lenses and zooming in

"Nami!" Sanji shouted "There's a mountain up ahead!"

"A mountain?" Nami replied, confused "That can't be, once we pass the twin capes ahead, we should reach the open sea!"

The sound repeated yet again, close to deafening, and its source revealed itself

A gigantic black whale, sticking its head out of the ocean, directly in the path of the Merry

"That's no mountain!" Layne shouted in alarm "It's a whale!"

"What should we do?!" Usopp cried out in alarm "The current's going too fast!

"We're too close!" Sanji shouted "It's like a giant wall, where are its eyes!?"

" _That's right"_ Nami thought, but out loud she shouted "Maybe the whale hasn't noticed us yet!"

"We have to do something, or we're going to crash" Zoro exclaimed "There's an open space to the left, turn the ship portside!"

"But the rudder's broken!" Usopp cried out

"Well we've got to do something, I'll help" Zoro shouted back, as he, Sanji and Usopp went to the broken rudder

"I've got an idea!" Luffy shouted, running below deck

Layne meanwhile ran to the front of the deck, and hung his arms over the edge, preparing to blast the ship backwards

"Use your devil fruit powers!" Nami shouted at him urgently

"It's no good" Layne replied calmly "We're too close to decelerate safely with my powers…"

Layne and Nami looked forward calmly, and in terror respectively as the Merry kept sailing forwards towards its certain doom, despite Zoro's, Usopp's and Sanji's best efforts

The front cannon went off, in a deafening bang, blasting directly into the whale

The recoil from the cannon at point blank range to the whale was incredible, slowing the ship down immensely

" _There's my chance!"_ Layne thought to himself, reaching forward and blasting water from his hands, which provided the final kinetic force to slow the ship down enough, that when the ship impacted, the figurehead of the Merry snapped off and flew backwards, over Layne's and Nami's head and landed outside the door below, where Luffy was emerging

"Ahh! My special seat!" Luffy screamed in shock

After that outburst an eerie calm fell over the immediate area until Zoro broke it

"Now's our chance! Run for it!"

Layne and Zoro went and grabbed one oar while Usopp and Sanji grabbed the other one, and they began rowing as fast as they could

The whale made its foghorn sound yet again and being so close to it, this time it was too loud, causing all the Straw Hats to react in pain

"My Ears!" Sanji shouted

"Ignore it!" Zoro shouted back "Just row as fast as you can, we have to get away!"

The ship rounded to the side of the whale in record speed, and for a moment it looked like they were going to get away, until Luffy slowly walked up near the broken figure head

"…Luffy?" Nami asked slowly, still in shock from her near death a couple of minutes ago

"How dare you…" Luffy said slowly, as everyone looked on with a growing sense of a dread

"How dare you destroy my special seat!" he shouted as he punched the whale directly in its exposed eye

"YOU RETARD!" everyone shouted at him, absolutely furious

The whale's eye moved downwards, its black pupil focusing directly on the Straw Hats aboard the Going Merry

"Come at me you bastard!" Luffy shouted, ready for a fight

"Just shut the hell up already!" Zoro and Usopp replied angrily as they flykicked him down

"Guys…. I think it's seen us" Layne said, for the first time showing a bit of unease

Suddenly, the whale began opening its mouth, creating an inescapable current that sucked the Merry into its throat

Luffy narrowly managed to escape by extending his arm and grabbing onto the whale's head

"I'm not going to die here, I just got to the Grand Line!" he repeated to himself as he climbed to the top of the whale's head and knelt down

A sudden realization overcame him

"What do I do now… everyone was swallowed" he muttered to himself in shock

Recovering quickly, he started shouting at the whale, while throwing punch after punch

"Damn you whale! Give my nakama back!"

The whale started submerging, but Luffy didn't let up

"Damn it, planning to dive under the sea! I SAID GIVE ME BACK MY NAKAMA, WE WERE JUST ABOUT TO START OUR ADVENTURE THEY'RE IMPORTANT TO ME!"

As Luffy raged, the whale submerged further and further, until Luffy noticed a strange hatch on the top of the whale

"What?!"

The whale dived

* * *

"So what do you think?" Sanji said calmly

"What do I think?" Zoro replied

"Yeah, what do you think?" Sanji repeated "I could've sworn we were swallowed by a whale a minute ago…but are we just dreaming or something?"

"Are we dead?" Layne questioned

The scenery around them was calm and peaceful, the ocean slightly tinted green, blue skies and birds quietly flying through the air

In front of them was a small island with a single story house, palm tree and deck chair

"Yeah… this has to be a dream" Zoro stated

"I still think we might be dead" Layne argued "We were just eaten by a goddamned whale"

"Then what about this house on that island?" Usopp asked, pointing at it

"Must be an illusion" Nami replied

Suddenly, a giant squid surfaced right in front of them

"Then what about this?" Zoro asked as he, Layne and Sanji prepared to fight

"It's a giant squid!" Nami and Usopp shouted in unison, before fleeing, leaving Layne, Sanji and Zoro to fight against the squid

Without warning, three spears were launched from the island that pierced the squid, killing it instantly.

As the squid died, Layne, Zoro and Sanji didn't relax one bit

"Seems like there's a person here" Zoro noted

"Let's hope it's a person" Sanji replied

"I still think we're dead" Layne stated

Behind the mast, Nami and Usopp were holding back tears

"I've had enough" Nami sobbed, "I want to go home"

"Where did Luffy go?" Usopp wondered

Something started dragging the squid towards the island as Layne, Sanji and Zoro watched apprehensively

"What the…." Luffy said, confused at his surroundings, which consisted of a hallway made of iron bolted to some kind of wall

"Why is there a door in a whale? And a hallway too, what is this?"

"Maybe we should just open fire" Usopp suggested, sounding absolutely terrified

"Calm down" Layne said "Someone's coming out"

A shadowy figure emerged from the house into the light, grasping the ropes of the harpoons that had shot the squid

"It's a flower!" Sanji exclaimed

"A flower?" Zoro questioned

"Wait… it's a person!" Sanji corrected himself as the figure came into full view

The man did indeed resemble a flower, with purple and yellow flowery petal like things sticking out of the back of his bald head.

He was wearing a pink shirt with a yellow and green stripes and bluish grey shorts.

"He just killed the squid" Layne commented

"Was he fishing? Or saving us?" Sanji wondered

Seemingly ignoring the Straw Hats he slowly walked over and sat down in the deck chair under the palm tree and pulled out a newspaper, starting to read

This was too much for Sanji

"Say something you bastard!

The man slowly turned to look at the Straw Hats and frowned

"You want to fight!" Usopp shouted "We've got a cannon right here!"

Layne noticed that he was standing directly behind the three of them as he shouted his threats

"Don't" The old man said ominously "Or someone will die"

Everyone tensed at his statement, Nami and Usopp clinging to each other as if it was one of them

"That's too bad" Layne replied cautiously "Who might that be?"

"Me" The old man replied

"You?!" Sanji shouted "You freakin…"

Zoro clapped a hand to Sanji's shoulder and pulled him back

"Hey, don't get pissed off"

Zoro stepped forwards and called out to the man

"Jii-san, tell me, where are we? And who are you?"

"If you want something from someone, it is common courtesy to introduce yourself first"

"Yeah, that's right, sorry, my name is Roro…"

The old man cut Zoro off in the middle of his introduction, with his own

"My name is Crocus, I am the keeper of the Twin Peak lighthouses, and I am 71 years old, star sign Gemini, Blood Type AB."

While Crocus listed every single known fact and statistic about himself Zoro turned to the rest of the Straw Hats, seething with rage

"Can I kill him now?"

Crocus ignored him, and continued

"You want to know where you are? Did you think you were swallowed by a mouse?"

"So we were swallowed by the whale" Usopp said "But this doesn't look like the inside of a whale"

"Doesn't that mean we'll get digested?" Layne questioned

"I don't want to be digested!" Nami wailed

"There's an exit right over there" Crocus said, pointing at the horizon, where a suspiciously large door hung in the sky, along with a platform that had a ladder leading up to it and its smaller door.

"Wait" Nami said slowly, completely confused by what was going on "Why is there an exit in a whale's stomach… and why is that exit in the sky?"

Layne and Usopp noticed it almost simultaneously

"Look closely Nami" Layne said "I noticed it when I couldn't hear the sounds of birds, at first I thought we were dead, but this makes more sense...barely"

"He's right" Usopp confirmed "The clouds, the sky, even Mr Seagull… it's all a painting, this whole thing is just painted on the whale's stomach"

"I like having fun" Crocus explained with a grin

"Just what the hell are you doing here?" Usopp yelled at him

"Calm down" Layne said, clapping a hand on his shoulder "We've got other things to worry about now"

"Yeah, what now?" Sanji asked

"Nami, there's the exit" Zoro said, taking charge "Let's just get out of here"

As soon as Zoro finished his sentence, what felt like an earthquake occurred, causing the green ocean to be thrown into turmoil, tossing the Merry and Crocus's Island up and down on the waves

"He's started again" Crocus growled

"That's not an island!" Nami pointed out "It's a ship, and it's made of iron"

"So we will get digested if we stay here for too long" Layne assessed "We should leave as soon as we can then"

"Right!" Usopp shouted, as if Layne had ordered him to do something "Oi Jii-san, what do you mean he's started again?"

"The whale, Laboon has started ramming the red line again"

"Now that you mention it, that whale had some huge scars on its head…and it was bellowed to the sky" Nami recalled

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked

"The whale, it's in pain" Nami explained

"I see, so the old man's plan is to kill the whale from inside the body" Usopp declared

Somehow Layne didn't think that was it, but he said nothing as he crossed his arms and leant against the mast

"Fiendish" Nami said, agreeing with Usopp

"Doesn't bother me" Sanji said, trying to get them back on track.

"Let's just get out of here before the ship dissolves"

* * *

In the shadows of the tunnels in Laboon, two figures raised their large guns and smirked, one wearing a green suit and a golden crown and the other with her blue hair pulled into a pony tail, where and blue tanked top that was striped with two different shades of blue and green short shorts

* * *

"Shit" Usopp said "The waves are too strong; we won't be able to get to the exit like this!"

"We have to try rowing" Zoro replied "Take the Oars"

"We have to get out now!" Nami shouted superfluously "We have to find out what happened to Luffy"

"I think he's outside" Layne told her

"Yeah" Zoro added "I saw him get thrown up the side of the whale's mouth"

As the Straw Hats bickered and attempted to decide on a course of action, Crocus took a running jump off his island ship, directly into the acid ocean

Nami was shocked

"The old man just jumped in to the acid!"

"Why would he do that, he'll get digested!" Layne asked

* * *

The Whale's bashing caused Luffy to be thrown down the hallway he was in, screaming and shouting about how dizzy he was, but he couldn't control his movements as he impacted and bounced off the walls

"Excellent" one of the gun toting shadowy figures roaming the halls of Laboon, murmured "Our infiltration so far has been a complete success… now Miss Wednesday, on the other side of this door lies the stomach, and that meddling old geezer as well, he must be eliminated for the whale's sake

* * *

"Yes, Mr. 9" Miss Wednesday replied, tightening the grip on her gun, "This whale is our town's precious bounty"

Crocus emerged from the acid ocean and started climbing up the ladder by the door

"Oi" Usopp shouted "The old guy came up"

"Ignore him" Layne replied "We need to work out how to open that door"

* * *

"Alright Miss Wednesday" Mr. 9 declared "3 – 2 – 1 – baby we open the door, don't hesitate"

"Roger, Mr. 9, whenever you're ready"

As they prepared to breach the stomach door, the faint sound of Luffy screaming as he bounced down the hall got louder and louder until they noticed

"I can't stooooooop~!" Luffy shouted as he flew down

"What's that noise Mr. 9" Miss Wednesday asked

"I don't know Miss Wednesday!" Mr. 9 replied

Luffy came into sight, flying through the air and shocking the both of them

"Look out!" he screamed

But it was too late, and he crashed into the both them, sending the three of them burst through the door and into the stomach.


	5. Chapter 5: Whale

Luffy, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday flew out into the air above the acid ocean, amazing everyone who witnessed it

"Those two" Crocus growled, as he finished ascending the ladder to the platform with the now wide open door, before entering it and running down the hallway in a hurry

"Oh no Miss Wednesday, below is a huge sea of digestive juices" Mr. 9 shouted as he identified the substances beneath him with fear

"Luffy!" Layne called out as Luffy flew past them "What the hell?"

"Oh, you guys are ok!" Luffy shouted back, sounding relieved "By the way… save me!"

Luffy, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday all hit the ocean with a splash, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday immediately attempting to surface, but Luffy just sinking further down due to his Devil Fruit given inability to swim

"Luffy caught up with us" Usopp said, relieved "But he brought a couple of weirdoes with him"

"Hey, the old man is gone!" Nami noticed

"Ignore him" Zoro repeated himself, for what must have been the fiftieth time, "We have to help Luffy"

* * *

Crocus ran down the halls with a quickness born of familiarity, after all, he had built them

He murmured softly to himself as he entered a room with a giant syringe on a stand set up, which he poked into an exposed section of whale flesh

"Stop it Laboon, I'm nearly out of sedative… I'll have to make more"

Crocus finished administering the sedative and Laboon ceased ramming the Red Line, causing everything to settle inside him

"This wall is the wall that separates the oceans of the world" Crocus said, talking to himself "It won't be breached by any whale, no matter how large or stubborn"

Back in the stomach, Luffy, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were huddled in the middle of the fore of the ship in a circle

"Sorry about this" Layne apologized, before blasting them all with water from his arms

"But I think you'd prefer this to acid burns and dissolved clothing"

"Thanks, Layne, everyone" Luffy said, as he got up and sat on the railing behind Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday

"So, we saved your asses, now who are you?" Zoro asked the two huddled before them

"Mr. 9, these are pirates" Miss Wednesday muttered to him

"I know Miss Wednesday, but I think we can convince them to help us"

"Are you two scumbags still here?" Crocus growled, having returned from treating Laboon

"I thought I told you, as long as I'm alive, there is no way in hell you'll lay a finger on Laboon"

"Who's the old guy?" Luffy asked

"Don't ask" Layne replied

The pair Crocus was referring too suddenly giggled as they stood up and aimed their weapons at the painted sky, in reality a stomach wall

"You can say that, but killing this whale is our mission" Miss Wednesday stated "We cannot retreat"

"Let her rip baby!" Mr. 9 shouted

"Roger!" Miss Wednesday shouted back

Simultaneously they pulled the trigger, sending two large cannonballs hurtling towards the sky, which Crocus ran after, before leaping into their path, intercepting them and causing a large explosion just before the sky

Crocus fell from the sky, steaming and smoking into the acid ocean below

"He saved the whale?" Sanji queried

Layne felt vindicated, his earlier feeling about Crocus' motives turned out to be right after all

Mr. 9 and Miss Valentine laughed as he fell

"If you want to protect this whale, try that again" they chortled "This whale is going to feed our town"

Luffy sprang up, and punched their heads together, and they fell to the deck, unconscious

"Luffy?" Layne questioned

"Don't know why, just had to hit them" Luffy stated

Layne shrugged, it didn't particularly matter either way, and he was the captain, after all.

* * *

They docked the ship at Crocus' Island ship and disembarked, with a bound Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday in two, standing around Crocus' deck chair, Luffy attempting to climb Crocus' palm tree while Usopp tried to stop him.

"You've helped me a great deal" Crocus said, thanking them "But why?"

"I didn't help you" Luffy refuted "I just didn't want to see that" he continued, referring to Laboon's death by cannon

"What's the deal with these two?" Layne asked

"And what are you doing inside this whale?" Nami tacked on

"These scumbags are from a nearby town" Crocus explained "They want the whale's meat; Laboon could feed their town for two or three years"

"You keep calling the whale Laboon" Layne observed "Any particular reason?"

"That's its name" Crocus stated simply "He's an Island Whale, he's waiting for a crew from 50 years ago… they fled the Grand Line, and I tried to tell him that, but he won't listen, so now he rams into the Red Line day after day"

After Crocus finished explaining, he offered to let the Straw Hats out, if they took Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday with them, which was accepted almost instantly, by Sanji at least

* * *

As they entered the real world again, dusk was approaching, but Luffy was excited anyway

"We're out!" he shouted at the sky "It's the real sky!

Everyone except Luffy was talking with Crocus, still discussing Laboon

"I won't watch him kill himself" Crocus said "It's been a strange relationship, but it's also been 50 years… he's my friend and I'll treat him until one of us dies"

The sounds of Luffy shouting attracted all their attention

"What is that moron doing now?" Sanji grumbled

"Jeez, can't take your eyes off him for a second" Zoro commiserated

"Looks like he's going mountain climbing" Usopp assessed

Layne just smirked as he saw what Luffy was doing, resigned to what was going to happen, but amused because it would have been hilarious had he not been directly involved

Luffy was running up the side of Laboon holding what looked like the mast of the Going Merry

"Gomu Gomu No Ikebana!"

Luffy stabbed the broken section of the mast directly into a recently open wound on Laboon's head

Layne flinched in empathy of the pain that would've caused

"That's the mast isn't it?" Zoro asked, standing in a calm stance with his arms folded as he watched the scene in front of him unfold

"Yep, the mast from our ship" Sanji answered, in a similar flat tone, lighting up a cigarette

"Our Main Mast" Usopp added

"That's unfortunate" Layne observed

"DON'T BREAK THE SHIP!" Usopp screamed at Luffy, who was too far away to hear him

Laboon thrashed about and screeched in pain, creating huge waves that swept the Merry and Crocus' Island ship away

"What the hell did you do that for?!" The Straw Hats shouted at Luffy

Laboon leapt into the air, attempting to dislodge the mast from his wound, inadvertently crushing Luffy between himself and flat area near one of the lighthouses

Luffy and Laboon fought for about three seconds, before Laboon tossed Luffy into a lighthouse, and charged at him, his wails sounding furious

It looked like Luffy was going to be crushed, but that didn't really worry anyone

Layne started moving like he was going to interfere, but the sound of Luffy's voice stopped him

"It's a draw!" Luffy said, grinning as he redonned his Straw Hat, which had been knocked off in his brief tussle with Laboon, who paused at Luffy's words and stared directly at Luffy

"I'm pretty strong aren't I" Luffy asked rhetorically, before continuing "You want to beat me, don't you… well I want to beat you too, so our battle isn't over. You're nakama may be dead, but now I'm your rival… we'll fight again one day to decide who's the strongest"

As Luffy was talking, everyone broke out into grins as they realized what he was doing, Crocus most of all

"Once we're finished sailing the Grand Line, I'll be back, and ready to settle this, then we'll finish our fight"

The whale cried, but for the first time in a long time, it sounded happy, causing Crocus' grin to grow even larger

Luffy had painted a crudely draw picture of a the Straw Hats Jolly Roger over Laboon's scars and he stepped back, admiring his handiwork

"Looking good" He said excitedly "Now this is our fight promise, so don't go rubbing it off on the Red Line

* * *

Meanwhile on the Merry, Zoro, Sanji and Nami watched Luffy talk to Laboon, while Layne used his Devil Fruit abilities to assist Usopp in reattaching the main mast

"That goddamned jerk" Usopp muttered to himself, sounding positively murderous about Luffy's reckless use of the Merry's Mast in his attack on Laboon "How could he just destroy our ship!"

"Wait, what happened to those two" Layne asked, noticing that Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were no longer on board the ship

"Those two?" Nami asked, before answering her own question "Oh, the weirdoes, they must have run away"

Luffy frowned as he picked something up off the ground; it was a small orb with an arrow on a stick attacked to a wristband

"Who dropped this?"

* * *

About half an hour later Luffy and Layne were sitting and watching the sun slowly set, Sanji was on board cooking dinner and Usopp was still fixing the Merry, Zoro was having a nap on the deck.

Nami stretched and laid down a map and a compass, murmuring something to herself, before letting out an earthshattering scream, loud enough to shock Luffy and Layne, and cause Sanji and Usopp to come running, even Laboon fled underwater for a brief period

"What's the matter my dear Nami!" Sanji shouted as he ascended, Layne was impressed that he'd managed to get up from the ship to the lighthouse carrying five plates of food, especially with Usopp on his tail, muttering something about taking a break to eat

"If it's food, it's ready to eat!" Sanji continued

This was interesting to Luffy and Layne who made their way over and began digging into a plate each

"The compass is broken!" Nami wailed, essentially ignoring everything going on behind her

Crocus was surprised "You came to the ocean without knowing anything? Are you trying to kill yourselves?"

Nami shook her head, while Sanji and Usopp listened to the conversation, Layne still on his plate of food, Luffy tucking into the next one

"I've already told you" Crocus continued "Common sense doesn't work on this ocean, that compass isn't broken"

"Then… the magnetic field is?" Nami asked, sudden realization dawning on her face

"Right" Crocus confirmed "The islands on the Grand Line are rich with various minerals, it's impossible to get an accurate compass lock, you need a Log Pose"

"A log pose?"

"It's a special type as compass that records a magnetic field; it has an… an interesting shape as well"

"Like this?" Luffy asked, through a mouthful of fish, holding up the thing he'd found on board the ship

"Yeah, that's it, without a Log Pose it'd be impossible to navigate this ocean, though they are very difficult to obtain outside the grand line

"Yeah, I see…one second"

Nami turned towards Luffy, still stuffing his face

"Why the hell do you have one?" she shouted, as she punched him

"Those two weirdoes from earlier, they left it on our ship"

Nami appeared mollified by that explanation, but Luffy had to ask

"Why'd you hit me?"

"Felt like it"

Luffy handed Nami the Log Pose, and she immediately strapped it around her wrist

"So this is a log pose" she murmured as she inspected it "But there's no marking on it or anything"

"The islands on the Grand Line have their own magnetic fields surrounding them, you'll have to record the interaction and stay a while on each island before you can move on to the next one… on this ocean you can't use any normal means of path finding, so the Log Pose is the only way to navigate…. From this mountain there are seven paths, which all converge eventually into the final island… Raftel"

Crocus explained everything about the Log Pose to Nami before Usopp cut in

"Does that mean, One Piece is on that Island?!"

"Who knows" Crocus replied nonchalantly, Layne and Nami both felt that he knew more than he was letting on, but they decided not to press the issue as he continued

"That's the most likely theory, but nobody has ever reached there to confirm it"

Luffy finished his meal with a belch and then grinned

"Enough thinking about it, we can see for ourselves when we get there"

Layne finished his plate at the same time as Luffy and looked up to see the rest of the food gone, and got a sinking feeling

"Did you two eat all that food by yourselves?" Sanji shouted in alarm

"Whoa… even the bones" Usopp noticed in surprise

Before Layne could protest that Luffy had eaten all the food and Layne only had the one plate, Sanji had stood up, radiating fury

"Shitty Rubber… Shitty Water… that food was for Nami-san to enjoy!"

Sanji kicked Luffy into Layne and the two of them went flying past Nami, who was still busy inspecting the log pose

Unfortunately, the force of Luffy and Layne flying past shattered the Log Pose, leaving Nami in shock, for about two seconds, before she got up and slowly approached Sanji, Layne and Luffy

"GO SOAK YOUR HEADS!" she cried as she kicked then three of them into the ocean

"That was really, really important wasn't it" Usopp shouted at Nami, while she turned to Crocus

"Crocus-san… what should we do, our precious Log Pose got broken" Nami wailed

"Don't worry, I've got another one you can use, I owe you all for saving Laboon"

* * *

On the other side of the peaks, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were watching the Straw Hats with binoculars

"I think that woman has our Log Pose" Mr. 9 muttered

"How could you have been so careless to drop the Log Pose!" Miss Wednesday growled at him

"I sincerely apologize for my error, Miss Wednesday; I know full well that we cannot return to town without it"

"It doesn't matter now anyway; we're already long overdue in our mission to catch the whale, if we don't hurry back and report to the boss, we'll be in some serious trouble"

"We've lost our weapons, but we have no choice but to attempt to take the Log Pose back by force, we can't just stand around any longer"

The sound of two shells clacking together attracted Mr. 9's and Miss Wednesday's attention behind them, and what they saw caused them great fear

"Oh no!" Miss Wednesday shouted "We're too late!

"It can't be!" Mr. 9 shouted back "The Unluckies… Mr. 13… Miss Friday!"

An otter wearing sunglasses and a white onesie with purple spots was riding a vulture carrying a package by a long string, the end of which the otter was attempting to ignite

Mr. 13 succeeded in igniting the string, which turned out to be a fuse… for a dive bomb, which the vulture dropped on the unfortunate pair, sending them into the ocean, before flying off

* * *

Back on the Straw Hats side, Laboon had fished up Luffy, Layne, Sanji, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday and tossed them back up to the Lighthouse plateau, where they all gasped in the air… and then glanced at each other

Sanji immediately sprang up and grasped Miss Wednesday's hand, who thanked him and they started moving towards the Lighthouse, while Layne and Luffy lay on the plateau trying to regain their strength

The experience was particularly jarring for Layne, who only once before had felt the weakness that submersion in the sea brought to fruit users, and never full immersion, once had been enough to encourage him to not repeat the experience

Mr. 9 speaking jarred Layne from his thoughts

"Hey, I have a request"

The Straw Hats, minus Zoro gathered around Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday again to hear out Mr. 9's request

"Whiskey Peak? What's that?" Nami asked

"It's the name of our town" Mr. 9 replied

"So you're asking us to take us there because you lost your ship?" Layne asked

"Don't you think that's asking a bit much, Mr. 9?" Nami asked them sweetly "Especially considering you tried to kill the whale and all"

"Just who are you guys?" Usopp butted in

"I'm a King" Mr. 9 replied

"Liar" Nami countered, pinching his cheek

Miss Wednesday knelt down and Mr. 9 extricated himself from Nami's grip and followed suit

"We cannot say!" They said in unison "But Please, take us back to our town and we swear we'll return the favour"

"Are you sure you want to come with us? We accidentally broke our Log Pose" Nami said, in a false kind tone

This enraged the two, who went off on a rant about people breaking things that weren't theirs

"Oh right, I forgot to mention that Crocus gave us another Log Pose"

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday immediately groveled on the floor again, their outrage fading as quickly as it had begun, as they realized Nami had been toying with them

"Ok" Luffy said, drawing all eyes to him "They can come along if they want"

Eventually the Straw Hats were ready to depart, and they all stood on the end of the Merry, wishing Crocus and Laboon farewell

"Are you sure about this kid?" Crocus asked Luffy, with his arms crossed "Picking Whiskey Peak because of these scumbags… you can only choose your route here, once here it's locked, it's locked"

"That's ok, if I don't like the route I can always sail back and choose a different one"

"I see" Crocus said with a smile

"See ya Flower-ossan, thanks for the Log Pose!" Luffy called out as they sailed away

Laboon let out a happy farewell cry as they sailed out of view, and Crocus watched them go, a small smile playing across his face

"Perhaps they're the pirates we've been waiting for… that captain has an interesting aura about him… what do you think?.. Roger"


	6. Chapter 6: Whiskey Peak

Three days after they left the Twin Peak lighthouses, the Merry was sailing a steady course through a slight snowfall, enroute to its destination of Whiskey Peak.

Layne was in the Crow's nest, a position he was taking more and more frequently, his eyesight was sharper than anyone else on the ship, with the exception of Usopp… and he found it calming to retreat there, a space that he could call his own and center himself alone, when human interaction became too much for him

Layne clutched the blanket around him even closer, the snow didn't bother him, but the temperature was causing some problems, maybe because of his fruit's natural element, maybe because he could never deal with the cold that well, and shuddered slightly as he observed Luffy and Usopp frolicking in the snow on the deck below

Luffy put the finishing touch on his snow man, a nose stick that he had found god knows where

"Done!" he declared patting the snowman on its snow shoulder "The man who fell from the sky, Mr. Snowman!"

Usopp chuckled arrogantly "Such childish snow games"

"What?" Luffy asked, turning to see Usopp's incredible creation, seriously, it was a work of art created out of snow, that looked suspiciously like Kaya lounging on a couch

"Amazing" Luffy whistled "SNOWMAN PUNCH!"

Luffy propelled one of his Snowman's arms so that it took out Usopp's Sculpture's head

"What the hell was that for?" Usopp yelled, flykicking Mr. Snowman's head off

"Ahh! Mr. Snowman!"

Inside the Merry's Cabin, Nami watched Usopp and Luffy fight in the snow

"Jeez, how can those two be so lively when it's so cold out?" she muttered to herself

Outside, Sanji was shoveling snow off the Merry, and Zoro was snoozing as usual

Layne had thought about using his abilities to blast the Snow off the Merry to help Sanji, but it would just fall again, and in this temperature any leftover water would freeze and create a thin coating of ice, that could be even more dangerous, plus he didn't think that using his powers around Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday was a great idea, they appeared to not remember him hosing them down inside Laboon's belly and he didn't particularly want to jog their memory.

"Nami-san! How much longer should I continue my snow shoveling of love?" Sanji yelled

"Until it stops snowing Sanji-kun"

"Yes! Nami-san!"

Layne shook his head, Sanji was respectable in all aspects but this, but he supposed they all had their flaws

Luffy was an idiot, Usopp was a liar, Sanji was weak to women, Zoro slept a lot and his sense of direction was awful, Nami was greedy and Layne himself was just bad with people in general, ten years of surviving by yourself in an inhospitable area will do that to a person

But they also had their good points too, and that was what made Layne ultimately decide to go with them.

* * *

Back inside Nami was arguing with Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday about something, before she suddenly screeched, attracting everyone's attention as she burst through the door onto the snow covered deck

"Quickly! Turn the ship around 180 degrees!"

Layne quickly jumped down, and turned to water to avoid breaking any bones, landing in a puddle on the deck and reforming as quickly as he could, made more difficult by the temperature, a fact that lent credence to his theory about the Mizu Mizu no Mi making one susceptible to cold weather

"Did we forget something?" Luffy asked

"No!" Nami shouted back "The ship turned itself around and is now directly heading away from our destination… I only took my eyes off the Log Pose for a second… and the waves were so calm too"

"Are you really a navigator?" Miss Wednesday asked, still huddled inside in a blanket "That's the kind of ocean this is, the winds, the skies, the waves… even the clouds, you can't trust any of them… the only thing you can trust is the needle on your log pose

Nami booted them out of the cabin fiercely

"Stop being so high and mighty and help out!

Nami followed them outside and began barking orders

"Catch the wind from the right side, we'll use it to turn around, Layne take the Jib sail, Usopp and Sanji take the Rudder"

Everyone called back their assent, before the winds suddenly shifted

Layne was the first to notice as he ran for the jib sail

"Nami! The wind just changed!" he called out

"That can't be!" she cried out

"Ah, the first breeze of spring" Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday said in unison, almost as if taunting Nami

But it was true, Layne noticed as he ran back to the jib sail, though unsure what to do with it, the temperature had increased rapidly, and now it felt like a spring day

"Zoro!" Usopp shouted at his sleeping figure "Wake up! We're in an emergency!"

The odd sailing continued for about four hours, with waves, fog, more snowfall, unbearable heat, clouds, even an iceberg

At some point Sanji brought food up for everyone, and everyone grabbed a couple of onigiri to munch on while they ran around the ship, doing their best to keep on course and stop the ship from sinking

Eventually they came into a calm patch, and that's when Zoro decided to wake up, yawning and stretching, looking out at everyone sprawled on the deck, except Layne and Luffy, who were in the Crow's nest and sitting on the front of the ship respectively

* * *

"That was a nice nap" Zoro sighed contentedly, before commenting on the state around him

"Oi oi, I know the weather's nice, but don't you think you're all being a bit too lazy… are you sure we're going the right way"

A cold fury radiated from the fallen Straw Hats, who weren't asleep, just exhausted, and furious at Zoro for not helping them before hand

Zoro suddenly noticed the presence of Mr. 9 and Miss Valentine, and commented on it, prompting them to call him slow

Luffy turned to him and smiled

"We're heading to their town right now"

"What, so we're giving them a ride, it's not like we're obligated to or anything" Zoro commented idly

"I know" Luffy replied "It sounded fun"

"Anyway" Zoro said shaking his head at Luffy's indifference before changing the subject as he sat down in front of Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday "There's something sinister about your faces, what did you say your names were again?

They told him as they edged away slowly

"Right, something has been bugging me about those names ever since I heard them, I feel like I've heard them before or not… well, in any case-"

Zoro was cut off as Nami approached him from behind and punched him square in the back of the head

"Did you have a nice nap" she asked false sweetly, and Layne could swear he saw an orange aura rising over her, and a green one over Zoro "You wouldn't wake up no matter how hard we tried"

Nami proceeded to beat the crap out of Zoro, before slamming her hand against the metal plating that held the mast together

"Alright everyone, don't let your guards down, I finally understand just how terrifying this ocean truly is, as well as why they call it the "Grand Line" I understand because ALL my navigation skills have failed to work"

"Are we really going to be ok?" Usopp asked

"We'll be fine; things will work out one war or the other and as proof… Layne?" she called out up at the Crows Nest

"I see an Island!" Layne called down "The first leg of our journey is over… I can see giant Cacti!"

"So this is Whiskey Peak" Sanji muttered as he got up and took a look at the giant cactus

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday flipped up, displaying an unusual agility as they landed on the Merry's rail

"Bye Bye Baby!" they called as they back flipped into the ocean, and immediately began paddling to shore

"They're gone…" Usopp muttered "What is up with those two?"

"Forget them!" Luffy shouted "Prepare to Land!"

"There's a river up ahead" Layne spotted "Looks like we can dock inland"

"There wouldn't be any monsters on this island now…right? Usopp asked, his fear evident in his tone

"This is the Grand Line after all, there definitely could be monsters here" Sanji replied

"We'll just run away if that's the case" Luffy said flatly

"It won't be that easy" Nami explained "The Log pose has to record this island's magnetic field, before we can move on… and the recording time varies per island, we're stuck here for a while"

As they sailed further in Layne became acutely aware of something watching them sail in

"We're being watched" he called out down to them

As if on cue the Merry left the fog, to the sound and sights of a huge crowd cheering, seemingly at the Straw Hats arrival

"This is…unusual" Layne commented, glancing down at Nami and Zoro, who glanced back up at him and nodded imperceptibly to signify that they shared his suspicions

Luffy, Sanji and Usopp on the other hand were drawn in completely, waving, shouting and blowing kisses like Royals on a Parade

Layne shrank in the Crow's Nest, he didn't think he'd been noticed yet, and he wanted to keep it that way, partially out of fear, partially out of prudence

* * *

Eventually, the Straw Hats docked, and everyone except Layne disembarked, Layne had requested to stay aboard the ship and asked them not to tell anyone about his presence there, he didn't want to be gawked at, or have to deal with a bunch of strangers, Anthrophobia was a bitch.

A rather tall man dressed in a loose fitting suit, holding a saxophone came up to greet them, his hair was incredibly curly and his face was flat, kind of like a monkeys

"Welg-ahem MA-MA-MAA~" he opening with, trying to say welcome, before stumbling, and clearing his throat

"Welcome, my name is Igarappoi, the Mayor, you might be a little shocked at the warm welcome, but this is Whiskey Peak, a town of Liquor and Music, Hospitality is what we do best"

Nami tried to ask him how long it would take for the Log to set, but, he brushed her aside, before inviting them all in for a banquet, which Luffy, Sanji and Usopp immediately accepted

As the moon hit its Apex on the sky, the party was proceeding full swing inside, Usopp was telling grandiose stories of Luffy's, Zoro's, Sanji's and Layne's actions… but replacing their names with his own, meanwhile Zoro and Nami had apparently overcome their initial misgivings and were deep in a drinking contest with several of the islanders, while Luffy was busy stuffing his face and Sanji was in the middle of a large group of women, flirting shamelessly with each and every one of them

But eventually their exertions, combined with their efforts before in actually getting to Whiskey Peak overcame them, and they all passed one, one after another

* * *

Outside, Igarappoi exited and breathed softly into the night air

"Looks like they've fallen asleep, after all that partying… Sweet dreams, my fellow adventurers"

Igarappoi sighed softly as he looked up at the half moon shining over the cactus rocks

"Oh how beautifully the cactus rocks are, as they dance again, beneath the moonlight tonight"

"Quite the Poet aren't you, Mr. 8?"

Behind him, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday appeared from the shadows on the building behind him and leapt down from their perch, walking to him

"Oh, it's just you" he muttered in acknowledgement

"And what about them?" Miss Wednesday asked

"They've fallen deeply… into hell that is" Mr. 8 replied

"Oh dear lord"

Mr. 8, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday immediately turned to look at the door, where the nun who was Nami's final drinking rival appeared

"That bunch sure knows how to eat and drink… and I wasn't even drinking alcohol"

"Oh, Miss Monday" Mr. 9 acknowledged, bowing slightly

"Was there even a need to stage the whole welcome party anyway?" she continued, shedding her nun outfit and revealing a short dress with a magenta and white diamond pattern, and an incredibly large muscle mass,

"They don't look like much" she continued "We should've just crushed them at the harbor, the town is already short on food as it is… and it's not like we can count on the whale meat anymore"

This last part she said accusingly, glaring at Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday

"Don't talk that way about us" Miss Wednesday replied in contempt

"That's right, we tried our best you know" Mr. 9 added, sounding a little more outraged

"Calm down" Mr. 8 boomed "I did my homework on this crew, take a look at this"

Mr 8 held up a copy of Luffy's bounty poster and held it up for the rest of them to see

"30 million beli?" they all shouted, their surprise and confusion echoing out

"To judge a pirate's strength from his appearances alone is quite foolish Miss Monday"

Miss Monday looked ashamed, while Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9 looked at each other, still in shock.

As they were discussing, the rest of the town had joined them outside, waiting for orders"

"My…my apologies" Miss Monday stammered out "The five of them-"

"Did you say five?" Miss Wednesday interrupted

Mr. 8 confirmed Miss Monday's statement with a nod, annoyed at the interruption

"There was six on the ship… they must have left a guard, perhaps they aren't as stupid as they appeared" Miss Wednesday continued

Mr. 8 growled, and quickly sent some of the random townsfolk to the Merry with orders to find the remaining Straw Hat, and incapacitate him, before turning to the others

"No matter, the rest of them are out cold… this should make an excellent report for the boss"

He paused, clearing his throat and adjusting his bowtie, attempting to regain his composure

"Now go confiscate any money or treasures on their ship, the ones I just sent should be finished soon, if we kill them, we'll lose thirty percent of the bounty money… the government does love their public executions"

Behind them, a top the building the party had taken place in, Zoro smirked, holding one sword up as he inspected it, not looking at Mr. 8 as he spoke to him

"Sorry, but would you mind letting those guys sleep for a bit longer? They're all exhausted from the journey over here"

Right on cue, several more townspeople emerged from the party building

"Mr. 8, Miss Monday!" they wailed "One of their crew has escaped!"

Mr. 8 looked up at Zoro, growling again

"You… weren't you passed out cold after all that drinking?"

Zoro shifted his gaze to look at them and smirked

"A true swordsman, never allows himself to be overwhelmed by alcohol"

Zoro's smirk turned into a grin as he appraised the situation around him, it was a pain that some had just gone to the Merry, but Layne was still on the ship, and he wouldn't have any problems with that lot, so Zoro could go all out

"So that's how it was… this place is a nest of bounty hunters… and you take advantage of overconfident pirates who've just entered the Grand Line"

Zoro stood up and flicked his unsheathed sword to his side as he did a quick count of all the heavily armed figures in front of him, who were glaring menacingly back at him

"Looks like there are about a hundred of you… I'll take you on…Baroque Works."

The use of the name caused everyone in front of him to react in shock

"How do you know the name of our organization?" Mr. 9 demanded loudly, his bluster his best effort at recovering

"Back when I was a bounty hunter myself, a certain organization tried to scout me, but I refused… an organization whose members don't know a thing about each other's real identities, and refer to each other by their codenames, and of course, the boss' location and identity are a mystery as well, A criminal organization that asks for complete obedience from its members: Baroque Works."

Zoro sneered at them as he explained

"Heh… was that supposed to be a secret?"

Mr. 8 was radiating fury

"This is quite a shock" he began, in a feigned calmness that no one was taking seriously "But if he knows our secret, then we have no choice but to eliminate him… another tombstone must be added to Cactus Rock tonight!"

Mr. 8 pointed at Zoro and yelled at the top of his lungs

"KILL HIM!"

But Zoro had disappeared completely, shocking and surprising everyone

"He…disappeared" muttered Miss Wednesday, in complete shock and disbelief

"He's gone!" Mr. 9 echoed

"Where the hell did he go?!" Mr. 8 shouted, causing them to all start looking around, until one of them cried in surprise as he spotted Zoro, and then the rest of them did…Standing in the middle of the group of them, his hand shielding his eyes from the moonlight, gazing up at the roof of the building where he stood before

Zoro grinned as he noticed they had spotted him

"Excellent…shall we?"

"Bastard! Making fun of us!"

Several of the towns people cried out in frustration and raised their rifles at Zoro

But as they shot, Zoro disappeared again, causing them all to shoot each other, and a large circle of them just dropped dead

"Those idiots!" Mr. 8 shouted as the dust cleared and he saw all the bodies lying around a circle where Zoro had been, instantly understanding what had happened "They shot each other!"

"He's disappeared again!" Mr. 9 said redundantly

"Hurry up and kill him!" Mr. 8 cried out, turning around "It's only one swordsman!"

As he yelled, Zoro slid one of his katana under Mr. 8's ear, through his curly hair

"Are you sure, that you one want to add only one tombstone tonight?" Zoro asked slyly


	7. Chapter 7: Baroque Works

The sounds of gunfire in the distance alerted Layne to the inevitability of trouble before the intruders boarding the Going Merry did, so Layne was instantly ready when the Merry was boarded.

As he clenching his fists he cautiously looked over the Crow's Nest edge to see who had boarded the ship, he hadn't survived for so long in the harsh wilds of Tonpil without learning to discern hostile intent… and the people that had just boarded the ship were full of it, and by their conversation, Layne judged… they knew he was here.

Almost silently, Layne jumped off the edge of the Crow's Nest and landed on top of one of the bounty hunters who shouted as Layne knocked him unconscious with one smooth, well-practiced flat blow to the temple

The others noticed him quickly and Layne cursed silently to himself, Two weeks ago on Tonpil, Layne would've been completely silent and the bounty hunter wouldn't have made a sound, but two weeks of not fighting for his life day in and day out had apparently dulled his edge, That would have to change he vowed.

Not because he was averse to proper combat, but because it had taken ten years to reach that point, and two weeks to lose it, that in itself was an affront to the life Layne had lived for the past ten years…and if he was going to travel with the Straw Hats he needed to be better than that.

Layne shook himself from his brief reverie in time to dodge backwards from a slash from a second bounty hunter, before launching forwards and delivering a strong blow to his assailants face with his gauntleted fist

A third bounty hunter shouted to the rest of the hostile intruders who were boarding the Going Merry

"Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were right! There's one more here!"

Layne turned to see the remaining eleven or so bounty hunters rushing at him, branding swords, knives, axes, maces and rifles

Layne knew he couldn't afford to collaterally damage the Merry by fighting on board, so he ran to the railing and leapt off it, making a smooth landing on the shore of Whiskey Peak and turning towards the shocked bounty hunters, cocking an eyebrow and beckoning them towards him

Those bearing rifles raised them, and without waiting for an order, fired them at Layne, who leapt backwards to avoid getting shot

"You're not going to hit me with those!" he yelled back in reply

Layne was practiced enough with his fruit to turn to water reflexively when he was going to be hit, but bullets traveled a little faster than he liked and there was always a slight impact before he could turn to water… another area he needed to improve in, so he preferred to dodge whenever possible

Luckily, the bounty hunters appeared to believe him, so they abandoned their rifles and drew a variety of melee weapons, before jumping off the Merry and charging at him

Layne smirked, eleven bounty hunters armed with various melee weapons were no problem for him, but despite himself, as he dodged the first strike and counterattacked with enough force to knock it's owner out, his thoughts drifted back to Tonpil

Tonpil Island was an enigma, there were some legends that said it was originally an island from the Grand Line, and some mad pirate had somehow transplanted it to a remote corner of East Blue, but most of those had been dismissed by civilized scholars, and indeed, even the inhabitants, but there was no denying it was strange.

For example, the area in which the village was set up, and had the beach was part of an area designated safe, marked by gigantic boundary poles

The other 95% of the island was wilderness, forest, jungle, desert, mountains, savannah, scrubland, swamp, and contained a whole host of vicious animals, and some animals that could quite easily be classified as monsters

Luffy and Zoro had been lucky when they wandered the wilds; the only monsters they had encountered had been relatively tame, they hadn't encountered any of the truly monstrous animals…because Layne had defeated them all over his ten years

Like the way Layne was fighting now, he learned by defeating a gorilla, with forty-eight additional arms…compared to that fight, eleven bounty hunters with swords and knives was a cakewalk

The island was almost completely uninhabitable, except for the safe area designated by some unknown force, none of the wilderness' denizens ever ventured close to the boundary poles

And then there had been Berlin's pirates, scouting parties sent to search the wilderness once Berlin had learned how large the island was and how unexplored it was

Layne had defeated his fair share of them, and the wilderness had swallowed many others, and eventually Berlin had abandoned the island and retreated to his stronghold… where he was out of reach for Layne, until he destroyed four of Berlin's tribute ships, and the Straw-Hats arrived, causing Berlin to return, almost four years after he'd left, and ten years after he'd almost destroyed Layne's left, he'd returned… and Layne had managed to take his revenge, taking out Berlin, saving Nami's life and earning a spot on the Going Merry, a good end to a story that could gone horribly wrong almost every minute of every day since it was started…but Layne corrected himself, the story wasn't over yet… Moll was out there, and Layne had friends…nakama, people to fight for, for the first time in his life

Layne blinked as he came back into reality… with the fallen forms of the bounty hunters around him, each of them completely knocked out

Layne took a deep breath as he decided what to do, the fact that he was attacked and the Merry was invaded meant that the rest of the Straw Hats were probably in troubled

Slamming his fists together, he made his decision, clear and secure the bounty hunters from the Merry, then go check on the rest of the Straw Hats

* * *

"There he is!"

The sounds of the Bounty hunters seeing Zoro and raising their rifles terrified Mr. 8, after seeing them shoot each other, he wasn't so sure that they wouldn't try the same thing

"Stop you fools! Are you planning to shoot me as well!?" Mr. 8 shouted

In response, they unhooked their safeties

Quick as a flash, Mr. 8 brought his saxophone up to his lips and yelled before leaning back and blowing

"Igarappa!"

Blowing into the saxophone caused a shotgun blast to go off, shooting all of the Baroque Works members behind Mr. 8… but not Zoro, who had vanished again

* * *

Around the corner Zoro breathed out

"Phew, that thing was a shotgun? Too close"

* * *

Mr. 9, Miss Monday, Miss Wednesday and Mr. 8 looked around, for Zoro

"It looks like" Mr. 9 muttered "We will have to deal with him personally"

"Where did he disappear to now…? Is he seriously planning to take on all of us by himself?" Miss Monday wondered

Despite a lot of them behind wounded or dead from gunshot wounds, there were still around 70 members of Baroque Works uninjured and currently looking for Zoro

"It seems he really doesn't understand, the power of Baroque Works"

* * *

Zoro grinned as he heard that, putting a hand on his new swords

"Now then… this'll be an excellent chance to test out my new boys, Yubashiri… and Sandai Kitetsu, no need to hold anything back, boys."

"Hahaha, found you" one the Bounty hunters cried

Zoro heard laughter and looked up to see the barrel of a gun pointed at his head, and only had a split second to react, launching himself backward through the door he was standing in front of and rolling into the house

Before he could fully get by he realized he was surrounded by Baroque Works, all of them training pistols on him, attracted by the sound of the one who found him

As they fired their pistols at him, Zoro leapt under a circular table and tossed up with his feet, making a makeshift shield that he sat behind

Under the hail of gunfire, Zoro grinned, this was more like it

"I'll start with… Yubashiri!" he decided, withdrawing the blade from its sheathe at his side

The bounty hunters never knew what hit them, in a brief pause while they reloaded, Zoro sliced through the table and ran at them, slicing through them like the wind

"It's light, nice katana" he muttered

Zoro ran attempting to find a better vantage position, before more of them yelled

"I've been spotted eh?"

Zoro turned the corner and started running up a stairwell, while Baroque works shouted his location

As he got to the top of the stairs, Baroque works was waiting for him

"Take this!" one of them yelled, as they fired a portable cannon at him, Zoro only narrowly managing to duck the cannonball, by nearly flinging himself backwards off the stairs, but holding the railings so he was only holding himself by his hands

"That was close!" he exclaimed, actually meaning it this time

Zoro pulled himself up to see four of his assailants approaching, swords drawn and cackling

"End of the line" one of them sniggered, before a wild gorilla like wailing overtook his hearing

On another, higher rooftop behind Zoro, Miss Monday had a large barrel and was screaming at the top of her lungs as she tossed it at him

Zoro reached backwards and sliced it three times in the blink of an eye, the four pieces scattering and taking out the Baroque Works bounty hunters he was on the roof with and tossing sake everywhere

Zoro sighed, he hated to see sake wasted

"What a waste of fine sake"

Behind him, Another one raised a giant stone hammer, ready to crush Zoro, but he, or at least his blades were ready, Sandai Kitetsu cutting through the axe like it was nothing, and Zoro finishing the attacker off using Yubashiri

"What kind of response was that?" he demanded of the sword "A meitou is only supposed to cut when its master wishes… this one is going to be a problem child"

While Zoro was reprimanding his sword, he heard a battle cry from a small child, who was charging at him, brandishing a small knife

Zoro turned and easily knocked it out of the child's hand with the hilt of his katana

One of the nuns ran up and immediately embraced the child, who started crying

"God, please grant us your divine protection" the nun blubbered as she held the child

Zoro stared, waiting for the other shoe to drop

The nun suddenly raised her cross and pulled on its chain, releasing a smokescreen

"God's merciful blindness" she shouted as she raised her sword, the child meanwhile having pulled a pistol from somewhere

Zoro whacked them both with the back of his blades, knocking them out

"You're supposed to use that act on nice people, with a clean heart"

Inwardly, Zoro was glad he was the one fighting, that trick would've gotten any of his nakama except Layne

A pile of Baroque works agents came up to the roof top as Zoro began climbing again, seemingly trapping himself on the roof, causing all the agents following him to call him an idiot, before he turned around and kicked the ladder they were on

As it fell, Zoro leapt, and used the ladder's apex to leap through the air onto another building, towards a pile of Baroque Works agents

"Nitoryu – Takanami!"

Standing amidst a pile of defeated agents, Zoro noticed that a bunch of them from behind him had leapt to follow him

Zoro stuck Sandai Kitetsu into the ground and cut a quick circle before moving out of the way

"Careful now, I cut a hole there" he told them as they landed, the force of their impact breaking the roof where he'd cut it and causing them to fall through

The shadow of a ladder in front him encouraged Zoro to duck, narrowly missing being hit by the ladder Miss Monday held

Taking advantage of the drop in his guard, Miss Monday grabbed him, pinning him to the ground by his neck and raising her brass knuckled fist to the sky, before bringing it down on his face, the force of the impact sending cracks through the ground beneath his head

* * *

Layne ran up the docks of Whiskey Peak, totally lost, having not had the tour because he was too busy hiding on the ship

He could hear the sounds of battle, and he felt he was getting closer, but not close enough

* * *

Mr. 8 saw the cloud of smoke rise after Miss Monday's battle shout, and felt that the battle was over

"Making us waste so much time" he lamented

Miss Monday's scream changed his mind instantly, and he, Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday looked up to see Zoro crushing her head in his hand, blood dripping down his face

"What's wrong… what happened to that strength you were so proud of?

Zoro let her go, and she passed out, her large form making almost no sound as she hit the ground

Looking down at them, Zoro grinned and licked some of the blood that had dripped onto his lip

"Want to keep going Baroque works?" he asked "This fight's a joke"

Mr. 8 scowled "Those marines made a mistake on the bounty poster… this is the one worth thirty million beli"

"Let us act accordingly then" Miss Wednesday decided

"But it's shameful… to be beaten to this extent by a single pirate swordsman" Mr. 8 started

"Those ones you sent to my ship haven't returned yet have they?" Zoro asked with a sly grin "a hundred and fifteen to two and you're having this much trouble?"

Mr. 8 ignored him, but inwardly growled at the reminder of the men he'd sent to the Merry, before continuing

"As proud members of Baroque works, entrusted by the boss to watch over this town… we have responsibility to worry about."

Mr. 9 looked up at Zoro and began to gloat

"You may already know this, but the lower the number, the stronger the member in Baroque Works, we three, Mr. 9, Mr. 8 and Miss Wednesday are all single digit agents… the difference between us and the trash you just disposed of, is astronomical"

"There's no point bragging in the middle of a battle, the strongest will win, it's as simple as that" Zoro told him, even thought he'd been doing much of the same thing

Mr. 8 raised his saxophone to his lips and Zoro prepared for another shotgun blast, which was forth coming

As Zoro leapt to the side, Mr. 9 leapt after him

"We strike, Miss Wednesday!"

"Yes. Mr. 9!" she replied, whistling

"Come give me a hand Carue!"

"Quack!"

A yellow duck appeared out of nowhere, with a green saddle, pink saddle bags, blue beaning and goggles, extending its wing some hundred meters away from where Miss Wednesday stood

"Not literally, get over here!"

When the duck finally complied, Miss Wednesday mounted it

"Now, let's show him your faster than leopard speed"

Carue sat down

"Who the hell told you to sit down!" she yelled

"What the hell is that?" Zoro wondered, staring at Carue

"Are you sure you should be looking away?" Mr. 9 asked him "You might not be able to keep up with my acrobatic finesse!"

"Nekettsu Nine Konjou Bats!"

Mr. 9 performed a series of backflips towards Zoro before spinning around and attack with two large iron bats, one in each hand

Zoro blocked it and Mr. 9 laughed

"These bats are solid iron, be careful not to break your sword"

Zoro instantly closed the gap with a flurry of sword strikes that put Mr. 9 on the defensive constantly pushing him back, yet Zoro didn't appear to be breaking a sweat

"What's wrong with your acrobatic skills?" Zoro asked "I thought I was going to have a hard time keeping up?"

Mr. 9 jumped backwards

"I'll show it to you alright, just keep your eyes open!" he shouted, backflipping

Off the edge of the roof

Zoro watched Mr. 9 fall into a box of supplies and shook his head

"Isn't there anyone more competent?"

"Someone competent? That would be me… prepare yourself Mr. Bushido"

Zoro turned to see Miss Wednesday standing on top of Carue, as the duck took sips from the drink barrel he wore as a necklace

Miss Wednesday began dancing, the patterns on her top mesmerizing Zoro, aided by the perfume she was blasting at him

Zoro fell to his knees, the smell was overpowering

Miss Wednesday smirked, easier than she expected, and withdrew a small blade attached to a ring, which she placed around her pinky finger and encouraged Carue to charge at Zoro

"Kujakki Slasher!"

Carue ran right past Zoro, and off the edge of the building, causing them both to impact the ground, hard.

Zoro stood up, having thought he was a goner just then, but now feeling sorry for them

"This is getting embarrassing"

The sounds of terrible saxophone alerted Zoro to Mr. 8's presence behind him and he quickly dived to the side to avoid a hail of shotgun fire

Mr. 8 thought he got him, before he approached the hole Zoro had cut in the ground to escape

Zoro ran out the building and hid around the corner

"That shotgun is a pain in the ass, how am I supposed to close the gap?"

He was saved from having to answer that question by Mr. 9's reappearance from a pile of wreckage

"How dare you do something so low to me, I'll never forgive you!" he screamed at Zoro, who raised an eyebrow questioningly

"But you hurt yourself on your own?" Zoro asked quizzically

"Kattobase Shikomi Bat!"

The head of one of Mr. 9's bats shot off attached to a chain, which wrapped itself around one of Zoro's arms

"Iron chains" Zoro muttered

Mr. 9 laughed

"I've sealed one of your arms!" he shouted

Mr. 8 walked up, having found them from the sound of Mr. 9's screaming

"Oh, you've captured him"

"Kill him Mr. 8, I won't let him escape!"

"Exactly" Miss Wednesday said, appearing behind Mr. 9, holding a knife in one hand, and marking a place to stab on a monstrously bloated Luffy with her other

"Make one false move, and your precious nakama here loses his life"


End file.
